What can Liverpool expect from Juventus star

It is no secret that Juventus are open to a Federico Chiesa move this summer. Rumors of such a move have been surfacing every few days since the end of last season.

The situation intensified earlier this week, starting with the news that Barcelona had dropped their interest in the Italy international, The Sports Gazette and insisted that Camp Nou was no longer an option.

Shortly after, photos followed of the player’s agent Fali Ramadani meeting with Juve management, including sporting director Cristiano Giuntoli, late on Tuesday night (according to the tweet below).

It appears that this has brought the matter to a close, as Chiesa spoke to journalists at Turin airport on Wednesday while en route to Liverpool to complete the deal.

“I’m happy, I’m very happy,” Chiesa told Sport Italia’s Alfredo Pedulla. “I want to say goodbye to the Bianconeri fans. Thank you for the affection over all these years. I carry you in my heart. Thanks to Juventus.”

When the same reporter asked him if he was sad to leave in this way, he replied: “I’m sorry, but at the same time I’m happy about this new adventure. My family and I can’t wait.”

Why is Juventus willing to sell Chiesa?

Given reports – including this one from La Gazzetta dello Sport – that Liverpool will pay just €10-15 million ($11-17 million) for Chiesa, why are Juventus willing to let him go?

The main reason for this is that the player has made it clear that he only wants to extend his contract for a salary in line with his current contract, which expires in June 2025. In that case, he can leave on a free transfer.

According to Capology.com, he is currently paid a gross annual salary of €9.2 million ($10.23 million) – making him the club’s second-highest-earning player – and Juve simply weren’t willing to pay that amount for a player who has failed to make the same impact he did for Italy at Euro 2020.

Why are there concerns about Chiesa’s injury?

He obviously played a key role in helping Roberto Mancini’s side lift the trophy at that tournament, but Chiesa has since suffered an anterior cruciate ligament injury that kept him out from January 2022 until November of that year.

Before that setback, he had scored 18 goals and provided 12 assists in 61 games for the Bianconeri, but since then he has managed just 14 goals and eight assists in 70 games for the club.

At times it seemed that the 26-year-old player could not cope with his body and tried to avoid contact with the opposition. But there was more to his poor performances than just his injury problems.

Juve manager Max Allegri’s tactics, which saw Chiesa in a central role, simply didn’t suit him, as he much preferred to play on the wings, where he could use his speed to attack the opposition’s defenders.

Excluding the injury, Chiesa played 2,227 minutes in Serie A in his debut campaign for Juve under Andrea Pirlo, scoring eight goals and providing eight assists. Those match-winning performances at Euro 2020 immediately followed that season, but that summer Pirlo was also replaced by Allegri.

What can Liverpool expect from Federico Chiesa?

Since then, Chiesa has scored just 13 goals and provided nine assists in 3,918 Serie A minutes. To put that into context, under Allegri he has scored a goal every 178 minutes, but under Pirlo it was every 139 minutes.

That’s clearly not enough, especially for a player who took 3.1 shots per game last season according to WhoScored.com – more than any Liverpool player apart from Mohamed Salah in 2023/24.

The Egyptian star scored 3.6 points per game, but also had 18 goals and 10 assists, showing how poor Chiesa’s production is, something he has lacked throughout his career.

Chiesa has only scored double figures for league goals once, and that was in the 2019/20 season when he was still at Fiorentina, but this deal is undoubtedly valuable to Liverpool.

With such a small transfer fee, the Premier League club will hope the change of scenery and a more attacking style of play will bring out the best in him, with more of the same runs and eye for goals as at Euro 2020.

Meanwhile, Juventus will be wondering what could have happened.