When Arne Slot this week explained why Federico Chiesa will take some time to settle in at Liverpool, his comments immediately made some waves in the Italian media.
Juventus had made Chiesa available for transfer at the beginning of the summer, and it was repeatedly reported he could leave the Turin club for around €15m. Endless Italian articles stated the player’s agent was shopping him around Premier League clubs, trying to find one he could convince to bite.
That’s why it was such a surprise for them when he joined Liverpool, because it was seen as something of a dream move which not many thought possible.
Of course, that isn’t to say the country’s media think the 26-year-old isn’t very good, it’s more that there’s been worries over his ability to maintain a top level of fitness, consistency and be able to fit into systems. On top of that, he was asking for more money than Italian clubs wanted to pay.
Chiesa was very much welcomed by Liverpool and their supporters, but has again been hit by a fitness issue.
When talking about that, Arne Slot explained he’s noticed that the Premier League is simply far more intense than Serie A, so players moving from the latter to the former will often struggle to get up to the required fitness quickly.
Tuttosport headline it a ‘Slap from Slot’.
They’re not angry at the Liverpool manager, but rather believe he pointed out something everyone in Italy already knows but won’t confront.
Whilst Serie A club may have better tactics for a chess-game style of football, Tuttosport say ‘it’s now too common to feel embarrassed when comparing the intensity of one of our teams to that of an English, a German, a Spanish or even a French team.’
The newspaper explain Chiesa now finds himself like a student who needs to do a lot of extra work to catch up on the difference in levels.
