Juventus and Italy winger Federico Chiesa is closing in on a move to Liverpool.
Manager Arne Slot’s team have agreed a fee of £10m for the 26-year-old, who told reporters on Wednesday he was ready for a “new adventure”.
Chiesa is expected to undergo a medical in the coming days and could become Slot’s first buy at the club, who have already agreed a deal to bring in Valencia goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili for the start of the 2025-26 season.
So who is Chiesa? Where will he fit in at Anfield? And why are Juventus letting him go for only £10m? BBC Sport finds out…
The son of former Italy striker Enrico Chiesa, who scored 139 goals in 380 Serie A appearances for the likes of Sampdoria, Parma, Fiorentina and Lazio, Federico had a lot to live up to when he joined La Viola from local club Settignanese as a 10-year-old.
Blessed with blistering pace, he quickly rose through the youth ranks in Florence before breaking into the first team as an 18-year-old, making his senior debut for the club in August 2016 – against none other than Juventus.
Though still a teenager, it wasn’t long before Chiesa established himself as one of the first names on the team sheet.
“Chiesa was a fantastic player – very unique with a complete set of skills,” a Fiorentina club journalist told BBC Sport. “He was great at pressing, defending, and of course attacking, often creating chances out of nowhere.
“He played left and right winger in a 4-3-3, and as a second striker and wing-back in a 3-5-2. He did everything, and did it well. He needed to improve his finishing, but he was also playing in an average, defensively-minded Fiorentina side who created little up front.”
Chiesa’s final season in Florence was his most prolific. He registered 10 goals and nine assists across 34 Serie A appearances in 2019-20, earning him a move to Juventus in October 2020.
His debut campaign in Turin yielded similar numbers, and he appeared to have the world at his feet after being named in the Euro 2020 team of the tournament on the back of several eye-catching displays for winners Italy – only to suffer an anterior cruciate ligament injury in early January 2022 which kept him out for 10 months.
When he finally returned to action in November 2022 he struggled to recapture his fitness and form, managing just 11 goals and eight assists across 54 Serie A outings since – with nine of those goals coming last season under Massimiliano Allegri.
Capturing a player of Chiesa’s calibre and versatility for as little as £10m will be viewed as a shrewd piece of business by the Reds hierarchy, who will hope he can recapture the kind of form that made him one of Italy’s hottest commodities prior to his ACL injury.
With Chiesa’s contract set to expire next summer, new Juventus manager Thiago Motta would clearly rather cash in on the 26-year-old now than lose him for free in less than 12 months’ time.
Allegri’s successor, who has left Chiesa out of his first two matchday squads this season, is also known to prefer a high-pressing style of play – an approach ill-suited to a player who has struggled with injuries in recent years.
“Motta has already told him and several other players that they are not part of his plans and are better off looking for another club,” says Italian football journalist Daniele Verri.
“He would go for free at the end of next year. He is not part of the programme.
“But the deal for Chiesa is also part of rejuvenating the team and paying less money in salaries.
“He has trained sometimes alone, sometimes with the group recently, but he has not played because they want to get rid of him.”
Long-time admirers of Chiesa, Liverpool are bringing in the Italy international to complement a forward line already boasting Mohamed Salah, Darwin Nunez, Diogo Jota, Cody Gakpo and Luis Diaz.
Chiesa started three of Italy’s four Euro 2024 matches on the right flank – Salah’s preferred position at Anfield – but at Juventus last season he was mainly deployed as a second striker in Allegri’s favoured 3-5-2 system.
Slot will be confident of bringing the best out of Chiesa at Anfield – wherever he decides to play him – but it remains to be seen whether a player who has spent over 400 days out injured since November 2021 can stay fit in such a physically demanding league.
“He can bring some proper speed to Liverpool, but he is very prone to injuries,” says Verri. “With the rhythm and intensity of English football, I’m not sure he will cope with that.
“It is a bet for Liverpool. He won’t cost that much, but it is a dangerous move.”
