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Federico Chiesa has become something of a cult hero at Liverpool, despite only being with the club for a season.

The Italian may have only just scored his first Premier League goal against Bournemouth last Friday, but with the way things look to be panning out, he’s set to stay this term.

Photo by PAUL ELLIS/AFP via Getty Images

And, it’s clear that Slot now thinks highly of the Italian after what he said in his press conference ahead of Monday’s clash against Newcastle.

There’s no hiding from the fact that even though Chiesa only cost Liverpool around £12.5million, he performed well below par.

I see a totally different Federico now than through large parts of last season.

“Which is completely normal, because he missed out on the whole pre-season and then came into a Premier League rhythm in terms of amount of games and in terms of intensity.

“He’s in a much better place now and, as we can all see, when we needed a goal and I looked to the bench, I only had him and Rio, a 16-year-old, as attacking options.

“For me, although Rio did really well in pre-season, it was quite a normal choice to make to bring [Chiesa] in and he delivered.”

Even though Mohamed Salah, Hugo Ekitike and Cody Gakpo are likely to be Slot’s preferred attacking trio this season, due to the lack of depth that Liverpool have among their ranks, Chiesa is likely to get plenty of game time.

Indeed, the injury he sustained while with Juventus may have held him back a tad, but now he’s been with Liverpool for a full season, he’s likely to feel much more comfortable than he did when he first arrived at Anfield.



Photo by Robbie Jay Barratt – AMA/Getty Images

And, if the Reds don’t manage to sign another attacker this summer, the Italian will be Slot’s fourth-choice attacker and will likely be required to play as a number nine.
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