Federico Chiesa to Liverpool: The pundits are missing one KEY point

Over the last 48 hours, there have been a lot of column inches dedicated to Liverpool’s signing of Federico Chiesa - but there is a key factor not being mentioned.

Much of the reaction to Chiesa’s signing has been overwhelmingly positive, not least on account of how happy the player himself seems to be with the move to Merseyside.

Read more: Is Federico Chiesa a Mohamed Salah replacement? Analysing the IMPACT of Liverpool's latest signing

However, not all of the reaction has been as positive from the Italian perspective. This is perhaps understandable when you consider that for several years now the best Italian players have not looked to broaden their horizons, and are content to move around Serie A’s top clubs or stay where they are. As a point of note, at the time of Italy’s victorious Euro 2020 final, all but three of the starting line-up played in their native country.

This has started to change after that tournament success, with some of the older Italians such as Chiellini and Insigne seeking paydays in North America and the younger players such as Donnarumma and now Chiesa finding themselves at two massive clubs outside of Italy in Paris Saint-Germain and Liverpool respectively. 

The Italian perspective

Writing in the Guardian on Friday morning, storied Italian football writer Nicky Bandini neatly summed up how it could be fair to go as far as labelling Chiesa’s Euro 2024 as "faintly embarrassing" despite a good performance in the Azzurri’s tournament opener, and this was even before the news that Chiesa would not be part of Italy’s squad for the September internationals.

Bandini is not wrong though when she points out that his ACL injury as well as his more minor issues, not to mention having to play some very antiquated football under Max Allegri for a Juventus side going through what seemed like false rebuilds every summer Chiesa was at the club. 

Similarly, Italian football expert and all-around top pundit James Horncastle was similarly cautious to the point of downright negativity when speaking to the BBC’s Football Daily podcast, he said "Why are Juventus not offering him a new contract? Why are Juventus not willing to build a team around this guy, you know, when he’s supposed to be the face of the Italian national team?”

Horncastle continued: "As much as people want to see, and believe that there is still the player that we saw at the Euros in 2021, […] there is still talent there, but he hasn’t shown it on a consistent enough basis."

We should point out that Horncastle was slightly less downbeat, although equally as disparaging, when Chiesa’s signing was announced as can be seen below.

Looking at Chiesa’s signing without blinkers on, a lot of the points that Bandini and Horncastle make in their comments are valid. If it wasn’t Liverpool signing Chiesa, would we as supporters be so effusive in a top Premier League club paying a nominal fee for a 26 year-old who hasn’t lived up to the hype since that knee injury? 

However, this is exactly the point that is potentially being missed when looking at those reactions to Chiesa’s signing. Horncastle touched on the lack of a new contract offer for Chiesa, and this is exactly it. Whereas several years ago Chiesa was perhaps a £95m player, he was a wonderfully shrewd piece of business at £12.5m precisely because of his contract situation. 

Even when you accept his value is now lower on account of his enforced absences and lack of encouraging numbers, there is no way that as exciting a forward as Chiesa in his prime years should be available for such a low fee.

Why the transfer works for all concerned

Juventus have suffered in recent years with some of their players such as Juan Cuadrado leaving on free transfers to be more successful with other big Italian clubs, and that is precisely why Chiesa’s move to the Reds was perfect for all parties.

Liverpool now have even more quality and depth in attack, injury and form concerns aside; Chiesa appears over the moon to be getting a chance to play at Anfield and for a club probably closer to winning silverware than the one he has just left; and Juventus don’t lose a quality player to a domestic rival for free.

Beyond everything else that has been said around Chiesa, the comments that Liverpool’s sporting director Richard Hughes made at the start of the transfer window about wanting to be “opportunistic” in the market have finally come to pass after being ridiculed all summer long, and this is not something being mentioned enough as a big reason why Chiesa has signed for Liverpool. 

He is a quality footballer, he was available, and Liverpool’s new transfer hierarchy were finally just as opportunistic as they said they would be.