Federico Chiesa has endured a tough first season at Liverpool and could be set to leave the club this summer.

Federico Chiesa does not have a single Premier League start to his name

Arne Slot has urged Federico Chiesa to return to Liverpool in top shape after the summer break to secure a future at Anfield. After joining Liverpool in a £12million deal last August, Chiesa has only started three matches all season and does not have a single Premier League start to his name. The 27-year-old has racked up a mere 403 minutes despite scoring two goals in maiden campaign for the newly-crowned champions of England.

Even after Slot pledged to give peripheral squad players more game time after securing the Premier League title last month, Chiesa was then absent from the match-day squad entirely for the 2-2 home draw against Arsenal last Sunday. Slot's main concern with the Italy international is his fitness and availability but the manager says the winger has a future on Merseyside if he works hard over the summer.

Napoli have been tipped to take Chiesa back to his homeland with reports from Gazzetta dello Sport claiming the Serie A side have made an offer for the forward which would be a loan move with an option to buy Chiesa permanently next summer.

Grilled over Chiesa's future at Liverpool, Slot clarified: "Does he have a future here? Yes, definitely he has. Next season, if he comes back completely fit, which he has hardly been for the first half-season, I can give him playing time in pre-season, so he can build himself up and then go even further.

"The moment he came in he was, by a long time, not as fit as the other players were and that doesn't help in the beginning.

"The other ones did so well, there was not a lot of reason for me to change and then being in the squad becomes difficult if Darwin Nunez and Diogo Jota are there as well."

"The other ones did so well, there was not a lot of reason for me to change and then being in the squad becomes difficult if Darwin Nunez and Diogo Jota are there as well."

However, with Slot seemingly settled on his preferred attacking trio of Luis Diaz, Cody Gakpo and Mohamed Salah, it's obvious that Chiesa faces a significant challenge to feature more next season.

Slot continued: "Unfortunately for him, he is in competition with Mo Salah when it is about the right wing. I think he can also play as a left-winger but he has Cody Gakpo and Lucho Diaz.

"I don't think I am wrong if I tell you these three have had a great season. They were doing so well this season, there was no reason not to play them."