Arne Slot believes worries regarding the fitness of new signing Federico Chiesa have been ‘overexaggerated’.
Liverpool completed a deal worth £10m plus £2.5m in add-ons to bring Chiesa from Juventus on Thursday, with the forward signing a four-year deal.
While there’s no questioning the talent of 51-time Italy international — who is still only 26 years old — he does come with some fitness concerns.
As per data on Transfermarkt, Chiesa has missed 91 matches for club and country since joining Juventus from Fiorentina in 2020.
While 45 of those absent matches were due to an ACL injury, there have also been various knee and muscle fatigue problems to overcome.
Chiesa injury history ‘overexaggerated’, says Slot
Nevertheless, Chiesa played 37 times for Juventus across all competitions last season, notching 10 goals and three assists, while he also featured in all four of Italy’s games at Euro 2024 over the summer.
Slot isn’t worried about Chiesa’s injury history, accusing many in the media of ‘overexaggerating’ things.
“It wouldn’t be the first time the English media overexaggerate!” Slot told reporters at his Friday press conference (via the Liverpool website).
“I think it is true he had a long-term injury with his ACL, but for the rest I don’t think he had big injuries. Minor injuries like every other player maybe.
“We have a lot of trust in our performance staff and the good thing is he is not the only winger we have: he is one out of four, where some others can play in that position as well.
“If he is not available at certain moments – not only with him, also the others – then there is still enough players for me to choose.”
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