Federico Chiesa's Liverpool Future in Question After Roy Keane's Remark

Federico Chiesa has become a convenient punchline at Liverpool. That, in itself, says plenty about where he stands in Andoni Iraola’s plans.

A summer of upheaval at Anfield saw major figures walk away. Mohamed Salah, Andy Robertson and Ibrahima Konate all departed on free transfers. Curtis Jones left too, completing a £30m move to Inter Milan. Names with medals, status and years of service gone in a single window.

Chiesa, heavily linked with an exit of his own and a possible return to Serie A, did not join them. He stayed. On Merseyside. On the fringes.

And that is where Roy Keane’s line cut deepest.

“Is he still there?”

Discussing Liverpool’s squad on Stick to Football, Jamie Carragher ran through the options and didn’t exactly talk up Chiesa’s prospects. He suggested that Chiesa and Wataru Endo “aren’t gonna kick a ball” for the club this season.

Keane didn’t wait. He jumped in with a deadpan question that doubled as a verdict: “Is he still there?”

It was only five words, but they captured the broader perception of Chiesa at Liverpool: present, but almost invisible.

The numbers back it up. Last season, the Italy international featured in 26 Premier League games, yet started just once – at home to Wolves in December. One start across an entire league campaign for a player of his pedigree underlines just how far down the pecking order he has slipped.

The talent has never really been the issue. The role has.

Injury, timing and a crowded wing

There is context to his latest absence. Chiesa has missed Liverpool’s first two league matches of the new season after picking up a minor injury in a pre-season game against Como. Iraola has already made it clear he expects the winger to return to training during the international break in late September.

That schedule means more games will pass him by. More opportunities for others to stake claims while he watches on. By the time he is fully ready, Liverpool’s wide positions could be even harder to crack.

Bradley Barcola’s arrival has already shifted the picture. The Frenchman’s signing adds yet another option out wide, taking Liverpool to five senior wingers. For a player already scrambling for relevance, that is a brutal development.

The pressure has ramped up. The pathway has narrowed.

Yet there is still a sliver of opportunity that the club’s recruitment has not erased.

The one natural right-sided option

Chiesa remains the only natural right-sided forward in the senior group. That detail matters over the course of a long season.

Iraola will need rotation. He will need fresh legs in the final half-hour of tight games, different profiles for different opponents, and reliable depth when injuries and suspensions inevitably bite. A fully fit, sharp, driven Chiesa can still offer something in those moments.

He does not need to start every week to change the conversation. He just needs to matter.

Right now, though, perception is his biggest opponent. Keane’s barb landed because it echoed what many already think: Chiesa’s Liverpool career has never truly started. Cameos without impact, flashes without follow-through, a name that rarely shapes a result.

That can only be fixed in one place – on the pitch.

A season on the brink

If Chiesa is to rewrite this story, the transformation has to begin the moment he is back in Iraola’s matchday squad. Even if starts remain rare, decisive contributions off the bench – a goal, an assist, a game-changing run – can alter the tone of the debate.

Football does not wait, but it does forgive quickly when a player delivers.

As it stands, Chiesa is heading into another season on the margins, a high-profile squad member spoken about more in theory than in reality. The talent is there, the opening is narrow, and the patience outside the club is wearing thin.

When he finally steps back onto the pitch in a red shirt, the question will no longer be, “Is he still there?”

It will be whether he can prove why he should be.