‘Is he still there?’ – Roy Keane shocked that one player didn’t leave Liverpool in the summer
Roy Keane was stunned to hear that one player in particular has stayed at Liverpool after the end of the summer transfer window.
Several first-team regulars from last season have since left Anfield, with Mo Salah, Andy Robertson and Ibrahima Konate all departing on free transfers and Curtis Jones sold to Inter Milan for £30m.
A number of Reds players have also gone out on loan for the 2026/27 campaign, although one man who was continually linked with an exit has remained on Merseyside.
Federico Chiesa had been the subject of rumours over a potential return to Italy, having only featured sporadically in his first two years at Liverpool, although he remains part of Andoni Iraola’s squad.
Keane issues withering putdown of Chiesa
On the latest episode of Stick to Football, Jamie Carragher mentioned that the 28-year-old and Wataru Endo aren’t gonna kick a ball for the Reds this season, with neither getting on the pitch in the first two Premier League matches of the new campaign.
Upon hearing the Italian forward’s name being mentioned, Keane momentarily interrupted: “Is he still there?”, with his fellow Sky Sports pundit responding in the affirmative.
Chiesa set to have a peripheral role again this season
There’s a perfectly valid reason for Chiesa not playing against Newcastle and Nottingham Forest in the past fortnight – he’s been nursing a minor injury that he sustained in a pre-season clash against Como last month.
Iraola told reporters at his press conference this morning that the 28-year-old is due to resume training with the Liverpool squad during the international break in late September, which’d indicate that the forward will miss another few matches in the coming weeks.
The Italian’s prospects of game-time this season are likely to be further lessened by the big-money arrival of Bradley Barcola, whose addition brings to five the number of senior wingers at Anfield – and yet our number 14 remains the only natural right-sided forward at the club.
Chiesa featured in 26 of our Premier League matches last term but only started one (at home to Wolves in December), a startling statistic which perfectly sums up his standing with the Reds.
Even once he recovers from injury, it’s hard to imagine him starting all that often in the 2026/27 campaign, but hopefully he can make a few telling contributions and remind Keane and a few more detractors that he is indeed still at Liverpool.
