Gennaro Gattuso gives honest reason for Federico Chiesa Italy snub

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Federico Chiesa burst onto the 2025–26 season in sensational fashion, coming off the bench to curl home the late winner in Liverpool’s 4-2 season-opening victory over Bournemouth at Anfield.

His stoppage-time strike not only secured three points but hinted at a resurgent campaign for the former Juventus winger.

However, Chiesa’s bright start has been followed by frustration.

He was conspicuously omitted from Liverpool’s 22-man Champions League squad under homegrown quotas, with coach Arne Slot sacrificing his place to accommodate rising talent Rio Ngumhoa and meet UEFA’s requirement for locally trained players

Despite his Premier League impact, only 17 non–homegrown slots were available, and Chiesa fell outside that limit.

Meanwhile, on the international stage, Italy boss Gennaro Gattuso did not call Chiesa up for this September’s World Cup qualifiers.

It came as a bit of a shock, with widespread reports asserting that the Liverpool man was in line for a call-up.

Gattuso was specifically questioned about the Liverpool player during Italy’s press conference ahead of their match against Estonia.

The former AC Milan midfielder asserted that it was indeed Chiesa who did not feel it was the right time to return to the national team.

“I know what I said to Chiesa, and Chiesa knows exactly what he said to me,” he said as quoted by Football Italia. 

“We were keen to call him up, but I saw a guy who wasn’t 100% sure.

That’s what we said.”

Gattuso also spoke previously in his selection press conference earlier this international break, also confirming it was mostly Chiesa’s decision:

“I spoke with Chiesa, and we made the decision together,” Gattuso said.

“He didn’t feel ready to come back because he wanted to be at 100%