Federico Chiesa is done making excuses, and Iraola might just unlock him

Federico Chiesa has spent two years waiting for a version of Liverpool that actually needs him, and it looks like Andoni Iraola’s arrival might finally be it. Speaking after the 4-2 friendly win over Sunderland in Nashville, the Italy forward laid out his situation without any drama. He wants to stay, he wants more minutes, and he sees the change of manager as a genuine opportunity rather than another false dawn.

Two years that never really got going

Signed from Juventus in August 2024 for £12.5 million, Chiesa’s time under Arne Slot amounted to just nine starts across two seasons, with last season alone bringing 31 substitute appearances. Those numbers explain why speculation about a return to Italy has followed him around, and Chiesa did not pretend otherwise. He was candid about the situation, acknowledging simply that a manager picks his team and a player has to live with the consequences, without turning it into a grievance.

What stood out was the total absence of resentment in how he framed it. There was no suggestion he felt hard done by, just an honest read of how football works. A new head coach resets everything, and whatever happened before stops being especially relevant the moment a new era actually begins.

A fresh role, a fresh attitude

Chiesa has been used through the middle in pre-season under Iraola, a role that sits outside his usual winger profile but one he says he is happy to fill. That willingness to adapt, rather than insist on a specific position, may end up being exactly what keeps him in the picture. Iraola’s demands are built around intensity, pressing and duels all over the pitch, and those are attributes Chiesa can supply when fit and trusted.

That flexibility matters because Iraola’s Liverpool is unlikely to be built around one fixed system. A squad that can rotate between a front three and a front two, with players comfortable shifting between wide areas and central ones, gives the head coach more options across a long season. Chiesa fitting into that picture, even in an unfamiliar position, works in his favour rather than against it.

By his own account, the early conversations with the new coaching staff have stayed strictly tactical. Pressing triggers, positioning, work off the ball. There has been no summit about his long term future, and he seems to prefer it that way. Actions, in his mind, will do more to settle the question than any conversation could.

Liverpool’s standards, and his own

Chiesa was equally blunt about the club’s recent form, pointing out that finishing fifth was not good enough for a team that had been Premier League champions only two seasons earlier, and that the margin for error in the Champions League race had become uncomfortably thin. Liverpool’s threadbare finish behind the automatic qualification spots was a reminder that strength in depth matters as much as star quality, and a fit, focused Chiesa adds precisely that kind of depth in the final third.

At 28, he is not a young prospect anymore, and he knows this campaign needs to produce actual output rather than more promise. There is an international angle running alongside all of this too. Chiesa has been stuck on 51 caps for Italy since Euro 2024, with fitness setbacks derailing a recall he was working toward as recently as March. He was open about the toll that has taken, but insists a return to the national team remains firmly on his radar once his form and fitness allow it.

Our take

None of this guarantees Chiesa will suddenly become a first choice starter, but it is a healthier starting point than the last two years produced. A managerial change genuinely can reset a player’s standing at a club, and Chiesa’s willingness to play out of position, press hard and stay patient gives Iraola every reason to find a role for him.

What should encourage Liverpool fans is the tone here. This was not a player agitating for an exit or hinting at unrest, it was someone quietly making his case through performances and application. If Iraola genuinely values intensity and versatility the way his early demands suggest, Chiesa looks like exactly the kind of squad player who could make a real difference across a long season.