The November international break is giving a number of Liverpool players time to get up to speed for the rest of the campaign.
The Reds currently have a handful of first-team stars out injured and on the comeback trail.
Trent Alexander-Arnold pulled out of England duty after picking up a knock against Aston Villa, for example, and Liverpool will hope the extra time off means he does not miss much club football at all.
Alisson Becker posted a photo of his own recovery earlier in the week, meanwhile, and the hope remains that the goalkeeper will be back between the sticks immediately following the break.
Another who is hoping for a quick return to action is Federico Chiesa. The Italian has only played three times for Liverpool since arriving in August.
And after claims that Chiesa is becoming unhappy at Liverpool, journalist James Pearce has shed some light into the 27-year-old’s situation.
Liverpool building Federico Chiesa’s fitness
The idea that Chiesa is becoming dissatisfied at Liverpool is a strange one to say the least.
Although he would clearly like to have played more, his fitness has simply not been in a place to allow that to happen.
Had the Italy international been available to play, he would surely have been given ample minutes by Arne Slot. Nevertheless, rumours that Chiesa could leave on-loan in January haven’t gone away.
Responding to those suggestions in a Q&A with Liverpool fans for The Athletic, though, Pearce has outlined what the Reds are doing with Chiesa and dismissed talk of a mid-season exit.
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“It’s been a massively frustrating start for Chiesa. He has only played 78 minutes (with just 19 minutes in the Premier League and Champions League) and the excitement generated by his signing in August has evaporated,” says the reporter.
“Liverpool are basically giving him a mini pre-season in the hope that he can build up his fitness levels. It’s about handling the intensity of the training.
“It’s too soon to write off Chiesa and there’s no truth in the rumours that Liverpool are already thinking about off-loading him.”
When will Federico Chiesa be back fit?
Interestingly, Pearce’s insight would appear to confirm rumours that Chiesa’s problem is not actually related to any specific injury.
It seems that the former Juventus winger is simply getting up to speed with things.
Having not had a proper pre-season with Juve – and still needing to get used to training with Liverpool – it sounds like the decision not to play Chiesa at all has been taken consciously by Slot and the Liverpool coaching staff.
As a result, they should have the final say on when he comes back. Having not played since September the 25th, a return after the current international break seems plausible.
Slot confirmed Chiesa will be back after the break and hopefully that will translate to him being available for selection, too.
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