Federico Chiesa fate SEALED after Arne Slot admission | OneFootball

Is Chiesa's fate sealed?

According to French website LE10sport, who refer to Slot's post-match press conference after the 2-1 win over Wolves when assessing Hugo Ekitike, the focus at Liverpool is now firmly on high pace.

On Saturday, the Dutchman said: "Hugo is one of the fasted players we have. It was one of the elements I wanted to bring to this team, that is to say to have incredible rhythm. I notice that many high-level teams have one, two or even three players with an exceptional pace.

"We faced Paris Saint-Germain lasts Eason, and we had to face Dembele, Barcola, Doue, all these incredibly fast players. So that's that we tried to bring by signing Ekitike."

Alongside the Frenchman's efforts against Wolves, it was noticeable that Jeremie Frimpong added a bit of the spark to the contest with his dribbles down the by-line and he made a significant difference.

Without having a full-back like Trent Alexander-Arnold who specialises in pin-point long-balls, it can be difficult for Liverpool to get the ball up the pitch with a similar level of urgency. And when teams play a deep-block against the Reds, it can feel as though it's taking an age to make a breakthrough.

Federico Chiesa is just one of the forwards who could be replaced in an effort to bring more pace into the side, and it's a little unfair to pick on the Italian as the one who needs to make way for others.

But when you consider that he's delivering goals and assists at a really impressive rate this season - like Rayan Cherki at Manchester City - and yet he still can't get regular minutes. There's a problem.

Slot clearly has his favourites and Chiesa isn't one of them, as illustrated by Dominik Szoboszlai playing at right-wing ahead of him when Mohamed Salah was dropped just over two weeks ago.

You feel as though it might just be a matter of time before the Italian decides that it's necessary for him to move onto pastures never anyway. The need for more pace in the team helps to facilitate that.

Whether the move comes in January in order to assist Chiesa in breaking back into his country's national set-up before the World Cup, or later in the summer, it feels like his fate might be sealed.