'We expect a lot' - Alexis Mac Allister names Liverpool player who has been impressing in training

Alexis Mac Allister has insisted that Federico Chiesa can be an important player for Liverpool.

Chiesa has had somewhat of a quiet start to his Anfield career after completing a move from Juventus on the penultimate day of the summer transfer window. Chiesa, a £10 million signing, arrived short of match fitness as he was frozen out at the Italian giants during the pre-season period.

He’s subsequently played three times for Liverpool, making his full debut in a 5-1 thrashing of West Ham in the Carabao Cup third round last week. Chiesa is ruled out of tomorrow night’s clash against Bologna in the Champions League with an injury. But Mac Allister, on media duties ahead of the Anfield encounter, believes the Italy international has been showing his quality in training and can be a hit.

The Reds midfielder said on Chiesa: “From the day he arrived, you could see how happy he is to be here. That is already very important. He’s already showing in training how good he is. We expect a lot from him and will be very important because he will compete against our players. I’m pretty sure he is going to do very well here.”

Mac Allister is into his second season at Liverpool and remains a key player since Arne Slot took over from Jurgen Klopp in the hot seat. The Reds have made a fine start under their new head coach as they top the Premier League and can continue a perfect start to the Champions League campaign with a victory over Bologna. On the differences between operating in Slot’s midfield to Klopp’s, Argentina international Mac Allister said: “Between Arne and Jurgen, the principals are the same. I don’t think there is a huge difference. Now we have more structure and some more patterns we are trying to improve. That is the main difference.

“Apart from that, there is not much to add. At same time, we have talked about Ryan, Dom and me but we have some amazing players like Curtis, Endo and Harvey. All of them are very important and that’s what we want to compete and get better.”