Italy coach Gennaro Gattuso has appeared to take a swipe at Federico Chiesa after the Liverpool forward pulled out of the Azzurri squad on Monday.
The 28-year-old was called up for his country’s World Cup play-off against Northern Ireland later this week, but it emerged this morning that he’d left the camp ‘following an assessment of his physical condition’ upon reporting for duty.
The wording would suggest that the Reds winger arrived in his homeland at less than optimum fitness levels, which opens up a separate discussion about what’s happening at the AXA Training Centre amid this most dreadful of seasons for Arne Slot’s side.
Gattuso addressed the media on Monday and, when asked about Chiesa’s withdrawal from the Italy squad, he replied (via Daily Mail): “He had some minor issues and we decided that it was useless for him to stay.”
When it was put to him that other injured players such as Sandro Tonali have stayed with the group, and that the Azzurri boss previously said that even those who aren’t fit would remain in camp in order to improve team spirit, his response was damning:
Because not every player has the same frame of mind. When I hear that someone is wavering, that’s when I know I need to make a choice. We decided it together. He felt he wasn’t up to it and he went home. I need to accept it.
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When Chiesa was continually omitted from Italy squads during the autumn of last year, Gattuso claimed that it was the player’s decision to forego international duty and that he has been prepared to keep the door open for a return to the fold.
However, with the 28-year-old’s Azzurri exile now nearing the two-year mark, it looks increasingly as though his national team days could be numbered, especially while the former AC Milan midfielder is head coach.
That might well change if the four-time World Cup winners fail at the play-off stage yet again this week – just as they did in 2018 and 2022 – although the forward’s limited game-time at Liverpool isn’t likely to do him any favours in terms of a recall to the Italy fold.
Gattuso’s latest comments suggest that Chiesa wasn’t quite all-in on playing for his country in the coming days, although those words only tell one side of the story – the player might have a different version of events if he were to be pried upon the subject.
Whatever the truth might be, it continues the frustration for the Reds’ number 14, who’s been left to feed off scraps throughout the past 18 months as fitness issues and an apparent ‘face doesn’t fit’ perception from his coaches at club and international level have conspired against him.
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