The start of pre-season at Liverpool can represent a slate being wiped clean for players who may have ended the previous campaign under a cloud.

For Arne Slot’s team, that unfortunately involves a fairly sizeable chunk of the first-team squad.

If you go through the Liverpool squad player by player, there are a few too many with question marks dangling over their heads.

One of those is Federico Chiesa, who had a difficult first season with Liverpool after joining from Juventus last summer.

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With his move not going through until late August, Chiesa missed the pre-season of 2024 and never fully recovered.

Having made only 14 appearances for the Reds, it has felt likely that he would be sold this summer.

And with the games set to resume once again, the Italian still has a chance for redemption at Anfield.

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Chiesa’s situation at Liverpool has caused much bemusement amongst the fanbase.

And with the hustle and bustle of the season preventing Chiesa from integrating into the team fully, he never really stood a chance.

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If that is the case, then things should be different this time around.

The 27-year-old has reported for pre-season on day one, and although not everyone starts off on the same footing, this will give Chiesa a better chance of making an impression.

There are also serious doubts that either Luis Diaz or Darwin Nunez will be Liverpool players next season, which makes keeping Chiesa that bit more important.

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The Italy international is likely to get more minutes than he’s used to in pre-season, and if he can deliver, there is no reason that Slot should not plan ahead with him in the squad.

As July slowly ticks away, the chances of Chiesa staying for another year are slowly starting to increase.

He has been a top-level player in the past and he can’t have been happy with a bit-part role last season.

There is a World Cup coming up next summer, and having been frozen out of the Italy set up since joining Liverpool, that will surely be in Chiesa’s mind.

So far, the direction of travel has suggested that Chiesa is looking for a move back to Italy this summer to bolster his chances of playing in next year’s tournament.

However, his desire to leave Anfield appears to be mainly based on a lack of playing time at Liverpool.

If he can do well in pre-season and take advantage of other players potentially leaving, then Chiesa should get on the pitch more.

The next weeks will be crucial in seeing how the cards will fall.