Where Federico Chiesa ranks among Liverpool’s fastest players post-injury

Federico Chiesa comes into Liverpool as a winger ready to challenge Mo Salah for his starting spot, and he certainly has the pace to match the Egyptian.

The Italian suffered a notable ACL injury back in 2022 which ruled him out of action for 297 days.

Since his return, Chiesa hasn’t quite been able to rediscover his prior form, but there are some encouraging underlying statistics that suggest he is nearing his peak once again.

Undoubtedly, it is those numbers that will have iNFLuenced Liverpool’s decision to pursue a move for the winger and land him for an initial fee of just £10 million with £2.5 million in potential add-ons.

 

Chiesa’s top speed & how it compares

Last season, Chiesa recorded a top speed of 36.2km/h according to Opta.

Previously, his top speed had been around the 37km/h mark as he revealed on his Amazon Prime documentary about his recovery.

However, the 36.2km/h top speed is still incredibly fast and would make him one of the quickest players at Liverpool.

Last season, Dominik Szoboszlai recorded Liverpool’s fastest top speed in the Premier League, which was 36.76km/h and therefore only fractionally faster than Chiesa.

The season prior it had been Darwin Nunez who recorded a top speed of 36.5km/h. Meanwhile, Mohamed Salah in his prime recorded a top speed of 36.6km/h.

Cody Gakpo has previously described Luis Diaz as the fastest player at the club, but Diaz’s top speed in the league is actually below Chiesa’s 36.2km/h.

This essentially means that Liverpool’s potential new signing will become one of the fastest players at Liverpool, ranking among the top five players in the squad.
 

Chiesa’s impressive underlying metrics

In addition to his encouraging top-speed numbers post-injury Chiesa’s underlying numbers, particularly when it comes to chance creation are really encouraging, too.

Last season as per Wyscout, Chiesa averaged 0.26 xA (expected assists) per 90 minutes in Serie A, which was the second highest among players to have played at least 2000 minutes.

He also averaged one key pass per 90, which again ranked him second-best in the metric.

Meanwhile, FBref ranks him in the 99th percentile for shot-creating actions (4.8 per 90).

So, despite only registering three assists last season all the underlying numbers would suggest Chiesa should have had better numbers.

He not only creates a high volume of chances as highlighted by FBref, but Wyscout’s data reveals he also creates high-quality chances on a regular basis.

In addition to that, he’s effective on the ball. Last season, he ranked third among wingers who averaged at least seven dribbles per 90 for success rate.

Only Khvicha Kvaratskhelia (59.5 percent) and Rafael Leao (57.3 percent) had a better success rate than him (51.1 percent).

For context, while Chiesa averaged over seven dribbles per 90 minutes last season, Liverpool’s highest-volume dribbler was Diaz, who averaged five dribbles per 90.

With his directness and speed, the Italian could bring a new dimension to the Reds’ attack – that is why Liverpool have made a move to bring him to Anfield this summer.

For an initial fee of only £10 million, he could be an absolute bargain.