In the summer of 2024, with one year left on his contract, Federico Chiesa was told by then-manage Thiago Motta that he wasn’t part of the Juventus project and he had to find a new club before the starting of the new season. It was a disappointing end to an extended period of time in which Chiesa’s agent and Juventus couldn’t agree to a new contract, thus leaving the club with little option other than to sell him for a small fee rather than lose him on a free 12 months later.
Nearly a year and a half
later, Chiesa’s time at Liverpool has been more about him not playing rather than lighting the Premier League on fire. It has come with plenty of rumors of him leaving Anfield. And those rumors are back again, with a new club being linked to the Italian winger — the same club he joined from Liverpool.
That’s right, folks. La Gazzetta dello Sport has reported on Tuesday that Chiesa is one of three potential reinforcements that Damien Comolli and Co. want to provide to Luciano Spalletti during the January transfer window. It would be a remarkable turn of events for a player who was frozen out of the squad in his final days with the club, and basically cast aside by a new Motta-led management team that lasted all of 10 months in charge and currently just collecting checks from Juventus to not coach rather than still be on the sidelines in Turin.
Considering Juventus’ financial constraints amidst Financial Fair Play concerns, any potential Chiesa signing would be with a formula that involves a loan with an option to buy come the summertime.
The other two names linked to Juventus by La Gazzetta are fullback Brooke Norton-Cuffy of Genoa and West Ham midfielder Guido Rodriguez, who is out of contract come the summer of 2026 and is being viewed as a low-cost option in the center of the park. But Chiesa, rightfully, is the biggest name and the headline grabber in this suddenly big rumor that is being dropped on us just two days before 2026 arrives.
Could Chiesa actually come back considering those who basically kicked him out of the club are no longer around? I mean, I guess so. It’s certainly a clean slate of sorts with Motta and Cristiano Giuntoli no longer employed by Juventus and Comolli’s new-look front office now calling the shots. There might have to be a little bit of repairing of some bridges if it were to happen, but it’s not like we don’t already know that Chiesa has an affinity for Juventus and would probably enjoy a second chance to prove his worth at the club.
Of course, things are a little different now compared to when he left. Chiesa wouldn’t be a centerpiece of the attack like we all thought he would be during his last couple of years in Turin. That is very much now the role for Chiesa’s former teammate, Kenan Yildiz, who the 28-year-old Italian could very well be an alternative for as Juventus seek an option to not run the young No. 10 into the ground by season’s end.
Chiesa has only played 222 minutes across 13 appearances in the Premier League this season. If he wants any chance of being a part of Italy’s World Cup roster — should the Azzurri qualify, of course — then his playing time will surely have to increase to prove he can be a player that can make a difference on the biggest stage in the game. Who knows if Juventus will be that place, but it’s becoming increasingly obvious that Liverpool isn’t.
