Federico Chiesa had been expected to be named in Gennaro Gattuso’s Italy squad for this month’s World Cup qualifiers, but the forward has been overlooked again.
While his role has still been limited, in the first two months of this new season Chiesa has already clocked a third of the minutes he managed in the entirety of his debut campaign at Liverpool.
That has also seen him equal his tally for goals and assists from last term, with two apiece, including his first-ever goals in the Premier League.
A big factor in that has been Chiesa’s availability, with the trip to Galatasaray in midweek the first he has missed so far with a fitness concern.
But despite this – and reports in Italy claiming he was in line for inclusion – the Liverpool attacker has again been left out of head coach Gattuso’s squad.
An ever-present in Italy’s ill-fated run at the Euros, Chiesa has been absent ever since having been frozen out at Juventus and then struggling for minutes at Liverpool.
Bologna’s Nicolo Cambiaghi has instead been called up for the first time for clashes with Estonia (Oct 11) and Israel (Oct 14).
Francesco Pio Esposito, Moise Kean, Riccardo Orsolini, Matteo Politano, Giacomo Raspadori, Mateo Retegui and Mattia Zaccagni have also been included over Chiesa.
It remains to be seen if his absence is linked to the issue which ruled him out against Galatasaray, though Arne Slot explained in his pre-Chelsea press conference on Friday that he was expected to continue training.
With Alexander Isak and Hugo Ekitike the primary options at centre-forward, Slot could face a tough balancing act when it comes to keeping Chiesa sharp for when he is required.
Chiesa is now Slot’s go-to sub
Earning minutes with Italy could have helped ensure that that, but even without the versatile attacker will continue to be relied upon from the bench.
Chiesa is after all Slot’s joint-most used substitute so far this season, coming on in five of Liverpool’s 10 games.
Since joining Liverpool just over a year ago, he has scored four goals as a substitute, which is more than all but 20 players in the club’s history.
He has done so in just 227 minutes, averaging a goal every 56.8 minutes off the bench including the match-winner against Bournemouth in August.
Italy are currently second in Group I as they bid for a place at next summer’s World Cup, with nine points from their four qualifiers so far – placing them behind Norway who have won five from five.
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