Federico Chiesa has made clear that he remains fully committed to Liverpool, despite talk of a possible summer exit and renewed interest in a return to Italy. The forward, who has become a favourite with supporters, says he is focused on proving himself again under Andoni Iraola and welcomes the chance of a fresh beginning, even if it comes in an unfamiliar role.<\/p>\n
Speaking after Liverpool\u2019s 4-2 friendly win over Sunderland in Nashville, Chiesa explained that his discussions with Iraola have centred on the basics of the manager\u2019s approach. \u201cThe only conversations I had [with Iraola] were about pressing and tactics,\u201d said Chiesa after Liverpool\u2019s recent 4\u20132 friendly win over Sunderland in Nashville . \u201cSo I don\u2019t know [about the future], it is difficult to say. It is always a fresh start at the beginning of the year. Maybe there have been too many fresh starts.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut I don\u2019t care, I am trying to do my best for this new manager. Last season under Arne Slot, I was trying to do my best.<\/p>\n
\u201cRight now, at the moment, I am happy here at Liverpool. I love the club, I love the fans, I love everything. I am doing the best I can to have a chance here. And then we will see. At the minute, the only thing I am thinking about is Liverpool.\u201d<\/p>\n
That message came alongside an encouraging on-field display. Chiesa played as a lone striker in the second half of Iraola\u2019s first match in charge, scored in the victory, and later played a part in Lewis Koumas\u2019s late goal.<\/p>\n
Although he has built his career as a winger, Chiesa confirmed that Iraola sees him as an option up front. \u201cHe put me [at] striker today and he wants me there. I have played my whole career as a winger but I am happy to play striker as well,\u201d said the Italy international.<\/p>\n
Liverpool\u2019s attacking resources have been stretched. Mohamed Salah has left, Hugo Ekitik\u00e9 is facing a long absence after rupturing his Achilles, and the squad remains short of options in the final third. V\u00edctor Mu\u00f1oz has arrived, but the 23-year-old will need time to adapt. That leaves Cody Gakpo, Rio Ngumoha, Alexander Isak and Chiesa as the club\u2019s only out-and-out forwards, with Isak the only natural striker currently fit.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Chiesa says he is committed to Liverpool and open to a striker role under Iraola in pre<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":18060,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[175],"tags":[1615,299],"class_list":["post-18061","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-liverpool","tag-andoni-iraola","tag-arne-slot"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18061","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18061"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18061\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18060"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18061"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18061"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18061"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}