Liverpool’s Federico Chiesa has had a strange past few weeks.
After the high of scoring Liverpool’s stoppage time winner against Bournemouth on the opening day of the Premier League, he was excluded from the Reds’ Champions League squad.
He wasn’t included in Italy’s squad for the World Cup qualifiers. Now, Azzurri manager Gennaro Gattuso has spoken about what really happened, revealing that the winger turned down the chance to play for the national team.
The former midfielder was directly asked about the Liverpool player in Italy’s press conference ahead of the game against Estonia.
He said, relayed by Goal Italia: “I know what I said to Chiesa, and Chiesa knows exactly what he said to me.
“We were keen to call him up, but I saw a guy who wasn’t 100% sure. And when someone comes and has to face matches and official competitions, I want players who are fired up, ready.”
Gattuso further claimed the Liverpool player wasn’t up for playing for Italy as he is keen on improving further at his club.
“He told me, and made it clear to me, that he wasn’t up to it, because he had to improve certain things. That’s what we said.”
Chiesa concentrating on his club form isn’t going to win him many fans around the Italy national team and unless he has a period of impressive form for Liverpool then his World Cup hopes are looking questionable to say the least.
The 27-year-old is clearly keen on proving himself to Liverpool, perhaps especially after the Champions league snub, which presumably he’ll have been aware of in advance.
