When Arne Slot was brought in at the start of the season, many expected Liverpool to be in a rebuilding phase, but instead, they’ve become one of the best teams in the top flight.
Players such as Mohamed Salah and Ryan Gravenberch have been the stars of the show for the Dutchman, with every member of the squad having their part to play in the success of the team.
But, even though Liverpool were extremely hard to beat until the tail-end of the campaign, there’s still room for improvement, which means some players will sadly have to depart.
Numerous members of the squad have been linked with Anfield exits already, with some feeling as if they’re more out than in.
Besiktas are targeting a transfer for Federico Chiesa
Federico Chiesa has been a bit of a curious case this season.
The Italian was brought to Liverpool for a cut-rate fee, with many thinking he’d be the bargain of the summer.
However, that’s been far from the case with Slot barely giving him any playing time across the campaign.
And now, as per a new report from Italian outlet Calcio Mercato, the attacker has been linked with a move to Besiktas.
The report says that Besiktas now have Chiesa in their ‘sights’ with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s team surveying him ahead of a potential move.
Calcio Mercato add that Slot is ‘willing’ to sell the Italy international to replace some of the funds used for the transfer of Florian Wirtz this summer.
Liverpool should sell Luis Diaz instead of Federico Chiesa
Chiesa still has plenty of life left within him that needs to be used by Slot.
The fact that he hasn’t played regularly this season will have no doubt knocked his confidence down a tad, but in reality, there’s still a more than decent player there.
When playing for Italy in the Euro 2020 final, he was close to unstoppable with his speed and flair, just two of the assets that made him hard to play against.
Chiesa and Luis Diaz are two players who have been linked with an exit, but the main difference is that it feels like the Colombia international actually wants to leave Anfield, whereas Chiesa still seems like he wants to stay.
Barcelona had their first offer rebuffed for Diaz, but if Slot’s main goal is to earn some money back from the arrival of Wirtz, there’s no better player to get rid of than the former Porto man.
He only has two years left on his contract, and with no signs of a contract extension just yet, he could end up leaving on a free transfer at the end of next season, even though he has been in fine form.
| Games | Goals | Assists |
| 50 | 17 | 8 |
On the face of things, this makes no sense, especially since he’s worth over £50million.
So, even if Slot has Diaz in his plans next season, it could be worth giving Chiesa another go, especially since he only cost the club £12.5million to bring in.
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