When you walk around any of Italy’s picturesque piazzas, from Il Duomo in Milan to Navona in Rome, there is one sportsman whose eyes stalk you from the giant billboards: world No 1 men’s tennis ace Jannik Sinner.
The orange-haired Italian stallion is the poster boy on every street corner – but it was not meant to be this way. If several significant bumps in the road had not altered the course of his journey, Federico Chiesa would be the nation’s leading sporting icon.
Chiesa broke through in the violet of Fiorentina as a youngster and was tipped to be Italy’s next big thing. He excelled as the country won the European Championship in 2021 but any hopes of him taking the world by storm were derailed shortly after by a horrific knee injury.
And so three years on from Italy’s heroics at Wembley, Chiesa has been discarded on the scrapheap, frozen out by Juventus boss Thiago Motta and able to leave for just £10million. For an elite club in 2024, that fee represents a bit of copper change found down the back of the sofa.
Liverpool completed the signing on Thursday, with the 26-year-old joining on a four-year deal as the countdown to the transfer deadline ticked into hours rather than days. He becomes the second signing under Arne Slot, though the other, goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili, is one for the future.
Liverpool have completed the signing of Federico Chiesa from Juventus for an initial £10m fee
Chiesa has signed a four-year deal and becomes Arne Slot's second signing of the summer
The forward was one of the stars of the tournament when Italy won Euro 2020 three years ago
But the 26-year-old suffered a serious knee injury in 2022 which derailed his progress
So how did they get the deal done? Chiesa’s father Enrico, seen banging in the goals on 90s TV show Football Italia which became cult viewing in England, paid for him to attend an international school in Florence, which means he speaks perfect English. Likewise, Liverpool sporting director Richard Hughes speaks fluent Italian, so negotiations were swift.
Hughes grew up near Milan and played in Atalanta’s youth ranks, so he knows Serie A inside out. Harry Redknapp, who managed Hughes at Portsmouth, described him to Mail Sport as a ‘walking, talking contacts book’.
He loves Italian football, judging by his business at former club Bournemouth where he tried to sign Nicolo Zaniolo and brought several other Italian-based stars to the south coast. Hughes was pivotal in the deal to sign Chiesa and led discussions with Turin-based Juventus.
‘When Richard called me and he said, “Do you want to join Liverpool?” – and the coach called me – I said yes immediately because I know the history of this club, I know what it represents to the fans,’ said Chiesa yesterday.
‘And I just want to say something that stuck in my mind when I was about to land (in) the airplane. I saw Anfield and as soon as I saw it I said to my wife, “Put the song on, You’ll Never Walk Alone”, because I want to imagine myself playing there and hearing the chant of the fans.'
The big question is whether this £10m has landed the bargain of the summer - or was merely a late gamble on a player with a worrying injury record that masks an underwhelming transfer window at Anfield?
Certainly, the belief at Liverpool is that this is nothing but a low-risk signing for a player they have tracked since his Fiorentina days. If they had tried to sign him four years ago, for example, they would be quoted an astronomical fee of nearly £100m.
Yes, injuries have taken a toll, but class is permanent. Liverpool have paid £10m for Chiesa – it may rise to £12.5m in add-ons which relate to the club winning trophies – but have earned far more this summer thanks to sales of fringe stars and clever sell-on clauses coming good.
The club sold youngsters Fabio Carvalho, Sepp van den Berg and Bobby Clark for a combined fee of £62.5m in this window – the latter to Red Bull Salzburg and the other two to Brentford. That trio made a combined 39 appearances for the first-team.
Meanwhile, Liverpool made a windfall in sell-on clauses for past deals around former players as Dominic Solanke moved to Tottenham and Luis Alberto departed Lazio. Those two deals saw the Reds bring home just shy of the £10m they paid for Chiesa.
Chiesa is one of a number of Juventus players that new boss Thiago Motta wanted to move on
The question remains whether sporting director Richard Hughes has taken an extreme gamble on a player with a worrying injury record or secured a bargain addition to Slot's side
Chiesa struggled for form and fitness upon his initial return from injury in November 2022
But aside from the finances, this is a deal that makes sense, despite the injury record. He is still a tidy, versatile attacker who racked up 55 goal involvements in 131 games for Juventus.
Thanks to his father, Chiesa has walked with a heavy weight of expectation on his shoulders since he was knee high. They have a word in Italy for a young star who is fated to reach the top: predestinato, the old nickname at Ferrari for Monaco-born Formula One driver Charles Leclerc. Local papers used this term for Chiesa back in the day, way before he started to impress fans in Florence.
Clips did the rounds of young Chiesa as a toddler alongside his father, who won honours at Sampdoria, Parma and Fiorentina. In one video, Chiesa Jr was asked who would be La Viola’s main source of goals when Gabriel Batistuta left for AS Roma.
‘Me!’, he said after a few moments of contemplation, banging his fist on his chest. To be fair, this was his second answer after his original reply was Francesco Toldo. A legendary figure, Toldo – but as Chiesa Sr reminded his son, he was the goalkeeper.
The comparisons to his father started as a kid for Fiorentina and have been seen by some as a burden. But instead he has used his ultimate mentor to his advantage. Just take one look at how Chiesa moves on the pitch and you can tell who his father is. The resemblance is uncanny.
So what about the elephant in the room? It is fair to say Chiesa has not been the same player since his knee injury in January 2022 and he has had several other blows in the seasons following his cruciate ligament worries.
Youngster Kenan Yildiz broke through quicker than Juventus expected and this halted Chiesa’s game-time. The forward had disagreements with then-boss Max Allegri and the Old Lady never really discovered his best position, though he can play across the front three.
Chiesa himself was desperate for this move and rejected many more lucrative offers from elsewhere, including Saudi Arabia. When he discovered Liverpool were keen, Chiesa Sr told him: ‘Go! It’s the best choice for your career.’
Chiesa has been tipped for greatness ever since he was young, even before he broke out at Fiorentina, where he was once viewed as a £100m player (pictured scoring in 2020)
Despite not always being in form last season, Chiesa had the best goalscoring run of his career
Chiesa will be the sixth senior forward on Liverpool's books, giving Slot the chance to rotate
There is a confidence that Slot and his backroom team – notably head of performance Ruben Peeters – can overcome any fitness worries. Their former club Feyenoord had one of the best injury-prevention records in Europe during the last two seasons.
‘In recent years he has had physical and character difficulties,’ ex-Juventus captain Leonardo Bonucci said recently. ‘So now he needs to take an extra step to become a top player. I hope he stays at Juventus, but also that he understands this step of growth that he has to take.’
He becomes the sixth forward at Anfield – youngster Ben Doak is likely to leave on loan – and Slot can use this rotation to his advantage, both in terms of tailoring his front three based on opposition and also keeping everyone fresh amid a congested fixture calendar.
Chiesa’s first goal at Anfield will be a romantic moment given his father scored a memorable strike on this turf for Italy at Euro 96. If he can replicate Chiesa Sr’s antics in front of goal, he will quickly pay back that £10m and this could be one of the bargains of the summer.