Chiesa Said This Exact Thing Last Year. Then Slot Dropped Him. Why Iraola's Striker Experiment Is His Final Lifeline

We have heard this tune before. Nearly note for note, syllable for syllable.

On Saturday night, Federico Chiesa found the net during Liverpool's 4–2 pre-season win over Sunderland at GEODIS Park in Nashville. Afterwards, facing the waiting media under the Tennessee humidity, the Italian was asked whether the appointment of Andoni Iraola represented yet another reset for his stalling Merseyside career. His self-aware response cut straight through the PR script: "Maybe there have been too many fresh starts."

He is not wrong. In fact, he is barely scratching the surface of his own frustration.

The Ghost of Autumn 2025

Roll the clocks back to autumn 2025. Chiesa stood in front of microphones delivering almost identical optimism. "This year, it is different. I feel better physically and mentally," he insisted then. What followed was swift, cold-blooded tactical exile.

Within weeks of those hopeful remarks, Arne Slot dumped him entirely out of Liverpool’s Champions League squad, handing the coveted spot to teenager Rio Ngumoha. Chiesa became an expensive spectator at Kirkby. The numbers from Slot's tenure read like a damaging misadventure: last season, Chiesa made 36 appearances with just five starts—and a solitary one in the Premier League. Across two full seasons under the Dutchman, his return stands at just two Premier League starts and nine total starts in all competitions.

For an Italian international whose transfer fee from Juventus in August 2024 ran between £10m and £12.5m, sitting on a lucrative contract running to 2028, those stats are an indictment. Liverpool scraped home in fifth place last season, securing Champions League football only on the final day. When addressing that nerve-wracking fifth-place finish on Saturday, Chiesa refused to sugarcoat the team's failings, bluntly stating: "We were lucky."

From Touchline Exile to Central Striker

So why shouldn't fans roll their eyes and dismiss Saturday's words as just another empty pre-season false dawn? Because of where he actually stood on the turf.

Under Slot, Chiesa was stubbornly pegged as a wide operator, eternally stuck behind younger, explosively fast wingers. Iraola tore up that playbook in Nashville. Tactically, the Basque manager deployed Chiesa straight through the middle as a central striker rather than on the wing. It was not an accident or a pre-season distraction; it was a deliberate positional redesign.

"He put me striker today and he wants me there. The only conversations I had were about pressing and tactics," Chiesa confirmed. That remark highlights Iraola’s insistence on high-intensity pressing triggers from the front line—a tactical system where Chiesa’s intelligent movement, defensive work rate and finishing instinct can actually shine without demanding constant touchline-to-touchline sprints.

A Window of Opportunity — or the Exit Door

Context matters, and Liverpool’s current treatment table has blown the door wide open for this striker experiment. Alexander Isak is only just returning from his extended World Cup break and needs time to rediscover match rhythm. More significantly, Hugo Ekitiké remains trapped in rehabilitation, recovering from an Achilles injury expected to keep him sidelined until the winter festive period.

For the opening months of the campaign, Iraola desperately needs dependable options at number nine. Chiesa is suddenly front and centre in that audition.

Yet the clock is ticking loudly. Transfer links circulating in Italy continue to pair him with Como and a sensational return to Juventus. Back in June, during an interview with Gazzetta dello Sport, Chiesa candidly noted that he might weigh options if he cannot secure regular minutes this summer. Right now, he maintains his current focus is squarely on earning a meaningful role at Liverpool.

Iraola has handed him the keys to the centre-forward position. Whether Chiesa thrives or fades back into the background depends entirely on what he produces before Isak and Ekitiké return to claim their territory. There are no more excuses left in the locker room.