You wonder how much football Federico Chiesa would have played for Liverpool had he been brought in last January as opposed to late August.
Deemed surplus to requirements at Juventus, the Reds smelt a transfer opportunity when landing the Italian for a bargain £10m fee.
But five months on and his Anfield career is yet to kick off. Limited to 123 minutes of action across four appearances
if not for the injuries, how much more would Chiesa really have played? He has Mohamed Salah ahead of him in the pecking order after all
Arne Slot would reference the Italy international's lengthy absence when comparing Luis Diaz and Cody Gakpo’s shared game-time on the left-flank to Salah’s own form on the right.
Slot
“I can completely understand how much focus there is on Mo's performance because that is remarkable, if a player has so many goals and so many assists,”
“But if you combine the goals of Lucho and Cody when they play as a left-winger, they come quite close to the numbers Mo has.
“Mo's advantage is that because Federico is not always available he is playing from the first until the last minute, but I think our left-winger position comes quite close to the numbers Mo has.”
Featuring in 27 of Liverpool’s 28 matches under Slot, starting 25 of them, Salah has scored 21 goals and recorded 17 assists.
No player in the world can compete with such numbers, with Chiesa the latest man facing the unenviable task of being the No.11's deputy.
Had he joined last January, things could have perhaps been different. Salah went off to the Africa Cup of Nations that same month before suffering a hamstring injury.
Missing for 12 matches, he would then struggle for form following his return.
Monitored by Reds bosses long before moving to Anfield, you start to fear whether Chiesa is a case of right player, wrong time.
Despite now being back available, it has remained a challenge to grant the 27-year-old further game-time.
Slot
“I agree with you that it is so difficult to bring players back from an injury of one month, two months into the team,”
“Because there is hardly any training time and there is hardly any time to play friendlies.
“So the moment you play them, that is coming from seeing them in 15-20 minutes on a training ground and of course from the experience you have with these players.
“So for the ones that have played a lot under me, it is easier to come back after an injury than the ones that didn’t because the ones that played under me, I know what I can expect from them and I know what they bring to the team.”
Had Chiesa joined last January, Liverpool would already know what he can bring to their team.
Instead, onlookers are still waiting to see if his Reds career can ever truly ignite.
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