Arne Slot 'feels sorry' for Federico Chiesa after frustrating start to Liverpool career

Liverpool boss Arne Slot has explained Federico Chiesa’s recent absence from the first-team squad.

The Italian was the club’s only major summer signing following a shock move from Juventus but has so far managed only three appearances across all competitions.

While Slot was impressed with the forward’s impact during their 5-1 Carabao Cup win over West Ham last month, Chiesa has not featured since and missed Wednesday’s 1-0 victory away at RB Leipzig in the Champions League.

It remains to be seen if the former Juve star will return to the squad for Sunday’s huge Premier League trip to Arsenal but Slot confirmed Cheisa’s lack of pre-season is having an impact, suggesting he feels “sorry” about the winger’s stop-start to life on Merseyside.

“He missed a complete pre-season, I said this many times, and going to a league where the intensity might even be higher than the Italian league” said Slot before Wednesday’s win in Germany.

“We just faced the two Italian teams so I can say this now.

“So that makes it difficult for him to make the step towards the intensity levels the rest of the team is at at the moment.

“That has not so much to do with the Italian league or the Premier League, that has more to do with him missing a complete pre-season and that is so difficult for every player – when the games are constantly there – to build them up towards the levels we are at.

“So, difficult to say, but it's a big disappointment for him that he is going in and out of the training sessions all the time. I feel sorry for him.”