Federico Chiesa stepped up his return to full fitness by playing and scoring for Liverpool’s Under-21s on Wednesday night.
The Italian international, a £12.5million arrival from Juventus in the summer, has played just 78 minutes over three appearances for his new club so far.
The 27-year-old hasn’t featured since the win over West Ham United in the Carabao Cup back in September.
He has returned to training with team-mates in recent weeks, however, and took another positive step by starting for the club’s Under-21s side against Nordsjaelland in the Premier League International Cup on Wednesday.
He wasted little time in getting on the scoresheet, firing in a right-footed finish to level the game after just 10 minutes at Kirkby.
Head coach Arne Slot recently put the wide man’s slower start to life at Anfield down the absence of a preseason in Italy and the style of football in England.
“With Federico, he missed a complete pre-season and then went into a league where the intensity might be higher than the Italian league,” Slot said in October.
“That makes it difficult for him to make the step towards the intensity levels the rest of the squad are at.
“Difficult to say (when he will be back) but it’s a big disappointment for him that he’s going in and out of the training sessions all the time.
“I feel sorry for him but he signed a long-term contract so we will see what he brings for us. At the moment unfortunately for him he’s not available.”
Liverpool — who travelled to Newcastle United in the Premier League on Wednesday — are next in action in the Merseyside derby with Everton on Saturday.
(Jess Hornby/Getty Images)
