Arne Slot has thrown down the glove and has challenged Federico Chiesa to prove why he has a future in Liverpool this summer.
The Italian is the only player who signed the club for the Reds, but he is limited to a lean 41 minutes in the Premier League. The 27-year-old did not even stand on the replacements' couch during the 2-2 draw with Arsenal last week.
Chiesa signed for £ 10 million from Juventus last August, but arrived unsuitably after he was frozen by Thiago Motta in the Turin Club and not a preseason. He played catching up in terms of fitness and was then unable to enter the team for others.
But Slot stated that Chiesa definitely has a future in Liverpool and said: “Does he have a future here? Yes, he certainly has, yes. Certainly. I think everyone who plays here for us has a future here.
'Next season, if he returns completely fit, which he has hardly been for the first half season, but then he became fitter and fitter. The next steps should have been playing time, which I couldn't give him.
'But I can give him playing time in the preseason, so that he can build himself up and then go even further.
'That was also one of the things, if you do it so well – and it was the same with (Ibrahima) Konate and Virgil (van Dijk) – some people say that you might have to rest one or two from time to time.
'I'm sure the chance to win when I play both of them is particularly high. So why would I take the risk of rotating? But yes, the preseason (Chiesa and other fringe players) gives the chance to show themselves again. '
Earlier, Slot had said on Chiesa: 'In terms of the quality he has, he deserves more playing time, but unfortunately for him he competes with Mo Salah. On the left it is competition with Cody Gakpo and Luis Diaz. Three players who have had a great season.
“He wasn't nearly as fit as the others. That doesn't help in the beginning. Then the others did so well that there is no reason to change. Is he good enough to play for us? Yes he is. But I have always had the feeling that Lucho, Cody and Mo deserved the confidence that I had in it. '