Federico Chiesa: Liverpool's Goal Involvement King

Arne Slot's sole signing for 2024/25 hasn't played much. Federico Chiesa has been impacting Liverpool games more than anyone else though.

Published on February 19 2025. Data correct prior to Liverpool’s match at Aston Villa that day.

Mohamed Salah can outdo anyone. Roberto Firmino scored 27 goals and set up a further 17 in 2017/18. It should be talked about as one of the great campaigns by a Liverpool player, yet is rarely mentioned. Salah was scoring 44 and assisting 14 at the same time to exceed the expectations of even the data team who had convinced Jürgen Klopp to sign the Egyptian over Julian Brandt. Sorry, Bobby.

If Firmino stood no chance of taking the spotlight seven years ago, things have only got worse for his successors. Only 14 players in world football are averaging more combined goals and assists per 90 minutes than Cody Gakpo this season, per FBRef. Those ahead of him include men who represent Altrincham, Başakşehir and Volendam, there are only seven from the big five leagues.

So, what is Salah doing? He is outperforming his first Liverpool season at 32 years old. He’s the same age as Muhammad Ali was for the Rumble in the Jungle, showing the young pretenders who’s the boss in similar fashion. There’s elite, then there’s Salah. Sorry, Cody.

Liverpool’s sole summer addition to their 2024/25 squad has not fared so well. Federico Chiesa’s hopes of a strong first year with the Reds have been hampered by no pre-season build up, several minor injuries and having the man who should be the 2025 Ballon d’Or winner standing in his way.

Anyone would find that tough. All a player can do is contribute when given an opportunity, which in fairness to Chiesa, he has largely done. Again, when providing a goal or assist every other game makes you the least productive of your club’s six forwards, it shows what the standards are. Most other Premier League teams would kill to have a sixth choice option with that record.

It takes more to fashion a goal than putting the ball in the net or passing to the player who does so, though. The possession sequence leading to a team scoring might last, say, 34 passes, as it did when Luis Díaz scored his first Liverpool goal in a match against Norwich. That’s a lot of involvements which needed to occur.

Wherefore art thou, Divock? Origi was the only player not involved in this goal

When it comes to this type of contribution, Arne Slot has had few better players on a pro-rata basis than Chiesa this season. The Italian international is also the owner of a goal involvement statistic not even the illustrious number 11 can match. Only Salah? Only Chiesa.

The Reds’ Egyptian forward has been involved to some capacity in 58 of Liverpool’s 95 goals so far in 2024/25, at least 30 more than anyone else. By this reckoning, Chiesa’s tally of seven looks beyond paltry, even more so when viewed against Caoimhín Kelleher’s total of nine.

However, Fede’s per 90 involvement of 1.71 per 90 minutes is just 0.01 behind squad leader Salah. Excluding penalties would put the former Juventus man top, albeit from a small sample of 373 minutes played. He’s also only behind Joe Gomez for other involvements, the various ball touches prior to the pass which sets the goal up.

Chiesa is involved in go-ahead goals more frequently than any other Liverpool player too. His most eye-catching statistic is this, though: he played a part in seven of the eight goals the Reds scored when he was on the pitch (87.5 per cent). Nobody gets close to that level of proportional involvement, not even Salah.

The 27-year-old began by assisting Diogo Jota in the Carabao Cup clash with West Ham. Before Chiesa made way in the 59th minute, the Portuguese forward scored again thanks to a swift attack on the left flank which excluded the summer signing on the opposite side.

Chiesa then took the shot which ultimately led to Jayden Danns netting against Accrington, ‘assisting’ Harvey Elliott in the same fashion in Eindhoven.

Fede opened his Liverpool account in the FA Cup win over the League Two side, played a part in both late goals at Brentford (picking up the pre-assist for the second) and won a penalty which Gakpo converted against his former club in the Champions League.

It hasn’t all been roses. Chiesa was last seen at Plymouth, which was a dispiriting performance all round, no matter how much you care about progression through the early rounds of the FA Cup. If anyone was going to help set up an equaliser, though, it was the Euro 2020 winner.

It took until the 82nd minutes for the Reds to generate a chance which Opta deemed to be big, with Chiesa crossing to Jarell Quansah to head wide from close range. The Italian later won the free-kick which led to Liverpool’s only other high value opportunity. Any goals that day were likely to have the number 14 listed in the involvement table, they just never arrived.

As impressive as his statistics have been, it’s only fair to highlight that Chiesa has generally featured in easier fixtures. He has only had 28 minutes in the league, with the majority of his European playing time occurring in the irrelevant match with PSV Eindhoven.

Equally, Chiesa hasn’t had too much opportunity to play with the squad’s best players in a match of meaning. He’s been fielded for longer alongside James McConnell than with Gakpo and Salah in total. Anyone would be expected to score or assist more when part of a trio with the two highest performing forwards (notwithstanding that Chiesa is effectively the Egyptian’s deputy, so less likely to play with him).

The contract situation of Salah is likely to have a sizeable impact upon how successful Chiesa is at Liverpool. By contributing to seven of the eight Reds goals scored when he has played, the Italian international could have done little more to this point.