Liverpool boss Arne Slot does not believe summer signing is ready to play ’90 minutes’ yet

The Anfield faithful will have to wait a little longer to see summer signing Federico Chiesa play his first 90 minutes for Liverpool as Arne Slot doesn’t believe he is at the “level” yet.

Liverpool signed Chiesa late in the summer transfer window for a fee of around £10m from Juventus, but is yet to make his first start for the club.

With the Carabao Cup often seen as an opportunity for Premier League managers to rotate their side, the Reds’ clash against West Ham is no different for Slot, who will still be learning about his players having been in the job for such a short space of time.

Chiesa, a player who was surrounded with so much promise before suffering a horrific ACL injury in 2021, came on as a substitute after the hour mark in Liverpool’s win against Bournemouth on Saturday.

On the Italian’s chances of featuring against West Ham, Slot said: “I don’t think he’s able to play 90 minutes. He only played 25 now as a maximum in the last three or four months.”

Slot continued: “I don’t think he played any friendlies at Juventus as well but he’s able to start in our opinion so let’s see. There are many options we have. He’s able to start in our opinion but I don’t think he is able to play 90 at the level we are playing tomorrow against a strong West Ham team.”

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Slot has a host of options to choose from in attack, possessing strong strength in depth in that department with the likes of Mo Salah, Luis Diaz, Cody Gakpo and Darwin Nunez all giving Slot a selection headache.

Under previous manager Jurgen Klopp, Harvey Elliott was often seen as someone able to operate wide on the right-hand side, though Slot seems to see the 21-year-old more as a central player.

Chiesa is able to play both on the right and left, and once he is up to match fitness, expect to see more of the 26-year-old.

Chiesa was part of Luciano Spalletti’s squad for the Euros in the summer, playing 264 minutes across the tournament in a campaign which saw Gli Azzurri disappointingly fall at the Round of 16 hurdle to neighbouring nation Switzerland.

For Liverpool and Slot, they have been in excellent form this season, bouncing back from their 1-0 home defeat to Nottingham Forest to brush aside Bournemouth on Saturday.