After two years at Liverpool, Federico Chiesa has established himself as a firm fan favourite but seems unlikely to ever be more than a fringe player.
Even if incoming head coach Andoni Iraloa rates him higher than the departed Arne Slot, Chiesa’s struggles for fitness over the past two seasons suggest he may simply not have it in him to compete in the Premier League at this stage in his career.
On relatively high wages, it seems like a situation that might see all sides welcoming a change. On that front, there’s chatter this week linking Chiesa with a return to Italy but to a perhaps unexpected destination.
At least as Cronache di Spogliatoio see it, it’s Como 1907 who hold the strongest interest in bringing Chiesa back to Serie A. They finished fourth in the league last season under Cesc Fàbregas, their second year in the Italian top flight, and now face a need to sign more homegrown players.
With just two currently in the squad, they would be limited to a 19-player squad in the Champions League next season—to fully fill out a 25-man squad, they would need at least four homegrown and four club-trained players, with the squad otherwise capped at 17.
Como don’t have any viable squad players but could at least get up to 21 ahead of a season, and reports out of Italy in recent weeks have them prioritizing the signing of Italian players as a result.
It’s unclear what sort of fee Liverpool might try to recoup for Chiesa, who has two years left on his contract, but having signing him for just £10M in 2024 it might not take much to get the Reds to agree a deal to get his wages off the books if it’s what the payer wants.
Liverpool recently announced that they will face Como in pre-season at Anfield on August 16th.
