Liverpool manager Arne Slot has admitted fitness issues continue to plague summer signing Federico Chiesa, but denied rumours the winger could be loaned out in January.
Having been frozen out by Juventus, Chiesa sealed a £10m move to Anfield in the summer, but he has seen just 78 minutes across three appearances so far this season and has not featured in a matchday squad for over a month.
Reports in Italy recently suggested Liverpool could send Chiesa back to Italy on loan in the January transfer window and, while Slot firmly brushed off the speculation, he acknowledged Chiesa is locked in a real battle to get himself fit enough to contribute.
“[Parting ways with Chiesa] hasn’t gone through my mind at all,” Slot stressed. “First and foremost is that he gets fit again and then we can see where he is.
“He missed pre-season [with Liverpool] and in pre-season [with Juventus] he was on low intensity sessions as he had to train with three or four players separate from the group. Going from then to a high-intensity league, to a high-intensity playing style is difficult in general for every player, but especially if you had a pre-season like this.
“We knew this before and we knew we had to be really careful to adjust where we could to his individual needs. But it hasn’t been perfect yet so we are trying to find the right way of building him up without overloading him. That has been difficult up until now. I have full confidence that will happen. Let’s let him first be fit.”
Asked when Chiesa could return for Liverpool, Slot confessed: “It’s always a bit difficult to say as he goes a bit up and down. Sometimes he is there with us training a few days and then he goes out through injury again.
“I don’t want to put days or weeks on it as we just have to make sure he gets in the best possible shape and don’t put any pressure on him by coming up with dates.”
