Liverpool star Federico Chiesa leaves Italy squad as nightmare season continues

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Liverpool winger Federico Chiesa has left the Italian national team, having added to the Reds’ injury woes. The forward was handed a spot in his nation’s squad for the upcoming international break.

It marked his return to international contention for the first time in two years. But Chiesa will not be playing a part, having already withdrawn from the camp.

A statement from the FIGC read: “The Azzurri report to Coverciano today to begin their training camp, with the first session taking place this afternoon ahead of Thursday night’s World Cup play-off semi-final against Northern Ireland (20:45 CET) in Bergamo.

“Federico Chiesa was assessed on arrival at the Federal Technical Centre and deemed unavailable for the next two matches. In agreement with his club, he has left the squad. Bologna winger Nicolò Cambiaghi has been called up as his replacement.”

Chiesa’s withdrawal from the squad is another frustrating chapter for the former Juventus winger. He has made just 46 appearances for Liverpool since his arrival - only nine of which have been starts - due to a series of injury issues.

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Liverpool boss Arne Slot will be hoping that his problem isn’t long term. A host of players including Alexander Isak, Conor Bradley, Wataru Endo are already out with lengthy issues, while Alisson, Mohamed Salah and Hugo Ekitike have all picked up problems over the past week.

Asked if there was a lack of sympathy for Liverpool’s lengthy injury list after the defeat against Brighton , Slot said: “No, I have complete sympathy with that, for all the people who are saying this, because no-one in England is used to the fact that there are also clubs that are selling players.

“So usually in England when a club is buying [for] £450m, which we did, that's adding that to the already great team you are having. But this club has a different model. That no-one wants to see that and no-one wants to understand this, that I can also understand, because fans of other teams or certain pundits don't want to tell you that we've sold for £300m.

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“Now if then the £150m player is never available, that's already one thing. If Giovanni Leoni has never been available because of his injury, that is already the second thing. So now we're already going underneath what we've sold.

“Jeremie Frimpong is recently much more and more available and [Giorgi] Mamardashvili was one of the other signings for £450m, the second goalkeeper. It makes complete sense if you win the league last season and you spent £150m, not £450m, that expectations are high and those expectations were high for the pundits, for the media, for me, for the fans.

“But at our club we are also looking at the situation and the things we had, the challenge we had during this season and then we might be a bit more realistic why this season has gone the way it has gone. But still it's not good enough. No matter how many excuses I can come up with, it's still not good enough, the position we're in right now.”