Federico Chiesa catches eye in Liverpool training to give Arne Slot debut dilemma

Federico Chiesa could feature for Liverpool in their Champions League opener on Tuesday night a fter travelling with the squad to Milan.

Signed by the Reds on deadline day, Chiesa arrived on Merseyside from Turin after leaving Juventus to join Liverpool. While he has yet to make an appearance for the Reds, having not been registered in time for their 3-0 win over Manchester United, and not being named in their squad to take on Nottingham Forest this past weekend in a game they lost 1-0, Chiesa has been training during the international break at the AXA Training Center.

The Italian winger made the decision to stay on Merseyside during the international break to train and familiarize himself with his new surroundings after speaking to Italy boss Luciano Spalletti. And he could be set to make his Liverpool debut on Tuesday night when the Reds return to the Champions League.

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Arne Slot's side are set to take on AC Milan at San Siro. And speaking on Sky Sports, reporter Vinny O'Connor outlined just what Chiesa had been doing during the international break to get himself up to speed to help Liverpool out on the pitch.

"What he’s been doing during the international break, he was working with the U21s, building up his fitness. Last week when we spoke to Arne Slot, he said Chiesa had been able to train with the main first-team group around three or four times," O'Connor told Sky Sports .

"He was out there again today, he looked relatively sharp as well. It will be something the Liverpool coach needs to weigh up.

"To be fair to Chiesa, he’s got history against AC Milan. January 2021, he scored two in a 3-1 win for Juventus, that was his last time there. For Fiorentina, he either scored or provided an assist in each of his four appearances away to Milan.

"The thing for Arne Slot is he has all of his forward options available to him at the moment, so [Mohamed] Salah, [Diogo] Jota, [Luis] Diaz, [Darwin] Nunez and [Cody] Gakpo. So when they talk about that decision that has to be made, they will talk about his relative fitness, his relative sharpness before seeing whether or not he can break into that five now."

Liverpool.com says: "After Liverpool's profligacy in front of goal in their defeat to Nottingham Forest, it will be interesting to see if Arne Slot decides to make a change to his starting line-up. The Dutchman named the same side as he did for their previous two games for the Nottingham Forest clash, and was frustrated by Liverpool's performance on Saturday.

"It seems unlikely Chiesa will start ahead of Mohamed Salah on the right against Milan, but he is versatile, so he could start in another position in the Reds attack, or make an impact off the bench."