The Year of Chiesa – Why 2026 is shaping up to be massive for the Liverpool star | OneFootball

Ah, Federico Chiesa.

It has been a turbulent five years for the Italian forward: from leaving Fiorentina in a massively hyped move to Juventus, to shining for Italy at the EUROs in 2021, to the injury disappointment that followed and his mixed spell in the Premier League with Liverpool.

However, 2025 has revealed a small, glimmering light at the end of what has been a very dark tunnel for the 28-year-old and next year is shaping up to be decisive for his career.

It is getting close to make or break for the Genoa-born winger and he will need all the stars to align in a potentially huge twelve months for club and country.

Federico Chiesa – How on earth did we get here?

It has been over a year since Chiesa last played for Italy and since his arrival at Liverpool in the summer of 2024, he has made only 29 appearances for the Merseyside club, many of which came off the bench.

Quite the severe fall from grace, for a player who was named in the Team of the Tournament at EURO 2020 as the Azzurri lifted the trophy, beating England in the final at Wembley in London.

Federico Chiesa of Liverpool is seen during the UEFA Champions League 2024/25 League Phase MD8 match between PSV Eindhoven and Liverpool FC at PSV Stadion on January 29, 2025 in Eindhoven, Netherlands. (Photo by Lars Baron/Getty Images)

Before his move to Liverpool, even in the seasons shortened by his ACL injury, Chiesa had never played less than 14 matches in a domestic league season. Over just three seasons at Fiorentina, the then-starlet played 137 times in Serie A for the Viola. At Juventus, he played a further 98 times over four seasons, despite the unfortunate time spent out.

Last season, as Arne Slot’s Reds lifted the Premier League trophy, Chiesa made just six appearances. He was given the odd game in the Champions League and domestic cups but has not been given much of a chance given the fierce level of competition.

Obviously, Chiesa’s cruciate ligament tear was a major turning point in his career. And it is an injury that it is fair to say he has not truly fully recovered from. He’s failed to reach the heights he reached before the injury and this is even by his own admission.

MILAN, ITALY – NOVEMBER 16: Gennaro Gattuso, Head Coach of Italy, issues instructions during the FIFA World Cup 2026 qualifier match between Italy and Norway at San Siro Stadium on November 16, 2025 in Milan, Italy. (Photo by Marco Luzzani/Getty Images)

The forward’s current exclusion from the Italian national team is not as a result of coach Gennaro Gattuso’s intentions, per se. Instead, the coach revealed that it was a joint decision reached on the basis that Chiesa himself does not yet feel ready to return to the set-up.

However, it feels as though the tide is turning slightly in his favour as we approach the new year.

Cold winter months open golden door for Chiesa at Liverpool

Let’s start with his situation at Liverpool, as his selection and availability for Italy will hinge primarily on whether or not he is getting enough minutes in general.

Already this season, Chiesa has featured in four more league matches than he did last campaign; one more appearance in all competitions and we are only at the start of December.

And, so far, the Italian has started to capture the hearts of the Liverpool fans with some really dedicated cameos.

Still being brought off the bench for most of his minutes, one thing is abundantly clear: his work ethic is impressive and he clearly still has fight left in him.

LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND – OCTOBER 19: Curtis Jones and Federico Chiesa of Liverpool celebrate after Cody Gakpo of Liverpool (not pictured) scores his team’s first goal during the Premier League match between Liverpool and Manchester United at Anfield on October 19, 2025 in Liverpool, England. (Photo by Carl Recine/Getty Images)

During Liverpool’s midweek draw with Sunderland, where the whole team looked a shadow of the side that lifted the league last season, Chiesa came off the bench to make a vital goal-saving block in the dying moments of the match. He was the only Liverpool player to track back from box-to-box, after Sunderland launched an electric counter-attack thanks to a superb ball from goalkeeper Robin Roefs.

After the match, the Italian received a ton of praise on social media for his performance – and even from head coach Arne Slot, who praised his mentality to contribute to both attack and defence.

It wasn’t the first time Chiesa has come off the bench to impress this season either, scoring an important late goal to put Liverpool up against Bournemouth in the first game of the season – perhaps a portent of what was to come. At the end of September, he scored an equaliser in an eventual 2-1 loss to Crystal Palace and despite a poor month for the club in general, Chiesa was voted as the fans’ Player of the Month for September.

With fans calling for more opportunities for the Italian, and Arne Slot under immense pressure to turn things around after the league champions sit in 9th place, already losing two more games this season than they did in the entire last campaign, there is no reason why Chiesa will not be rewarded with more minutes.

LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND – AUGUST 15: Mohamed Salah of Liverpool celebrates scoring his team’s fourth goal during the Premier League match between Liverpool and Bournemouth at Anfield on August 15, 2025 in Liverpool, England. (Photo by Michael Steele/Getty Images)

Better yet for the Italian, the Africa Cup of Nations is just around the corner and soon talismanic winger Mohamed Salah will be joining up with his Egypt squad for the tournament. This leaves Slot with a enormous space to fill, even if the Egyptian has failed to recapture the form that propelled the club to the title last season.

Given his impressive cameos so far, it is not a wild assumption to make that Chiesa will receive more minutes in Salah’s absence, and could potentially even start matches in what is expected to be a tough winter run.

And then there’s Italia

Now, as aforementioned, Chiesa’s Italy future is completely up in the air at the minute.

He has confessed to Gattuso that he does not feel ‘ready’ yet… but when will he?

Italy have crucial matches coming up in the Spring to determine their World Cup fate, with a play-off semi-final against Northern Ireland standing in the way of a final match-up against either Wales or Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Whether or not Chiesa will feature in these games is a mystery. And whether or not Gattuso will select him is another. If his form continues to pick up for Liverpool and he gets more minutes in his legs, it is hard to imagine Gattuso will choose not to select him. Normally, it is difficult to reintegrate into an international group but seeing as we are still in the fledgling days of the Gattuso era, the dust is yet to settle and there are many selection debates to be had.

ROME, ITALY – NOVEMBER 17: Gianluigi Donnarumma and Federico Chiesa of Italy celebrate the win at the end of the UEFA EURO 2024 European qualifier match between Italy and North Macedonia at Stadio Olimpico on November 17, 2023 in Rome, Italy. (Photo by Claudio Villa/Getty Images)

This is Chiesa’s way into the squad and he must not squander it once he is there. If he can earn a call-up for the play-offs, and contribute positively to Italy’s attempt to qualify for the World Cup, then we could see him playing in North America next summer.

Italy’s qualification for the tournament is a whole other topic for debate but the Azzurri have the quality to qualify and Chiesa could prove instrumental to this.

Whatever happens over the next 12 months, this time next year we will have a much clearer picture of where Chiesa is at – and you can’t help but root for him to make the most of his opportunity.