Federico Chiesa is about to enter his most important period to date at Liverpool – but what will it have in store?

For someone who is just a few months into a four-year contract at Liverpool, it might sound strange to say Federico Chiesa is entering a defining month at Anfield. But having barely featured since his August move from Juventus, the next few weeks might prove instructive in how his career on Merseyside will shape up for the long term.

Chiesa, a £12m capture from Juventus in late August, has featured for just 18 Premier League minutes so far, which came in a cameo appearance off the bench in the 3-0 win over Bournemouth in September. Since then the Italian has been named in just three other match-day squads.

In total, Chiesa has been picked for seven squads from the 25 games played by Arne Slot’s side since he signed. The Reds boss has consistently made the point that his forward was unable to undertake any real pre-season while he was frozen out at Juve, meaning he arrived at Anfield with pedigree but way short of the fitness levels required to make an instant mark in a division as demanding and as intense as the Premier League.

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“With Federico, although it is a bit more difficult, it is a bit more simple to explain,” Slot said in Leipzig back in October. “He missed a complete pre-season, I’ve said this many times.

“And going to a league where the intensity may be higher than the Italian league, that makes it difficult for him to make the step towards the intensity levels the rest of the team is at.

“That has not so much to do with the Italian league or Premier League but has more to do with him missing a complete pre-season. Then it is so difficult for every player to, when the games are constantly there, to build them up towards the levels we are at.

“So, difficult to say, but it is a big disappointment for him that he is going in and out of the training sessions all of the time. I feel sorry for him, but he’s signed a long-term contract so we will see what he brings for us. But at the moment, unfortunately for him, he’s been with us one or two times in team selection and not more than that.”

Over two months on, however, and Chiesa appears no nearer to being able to contribute anything significant. A run-out off the bench in the Carabao Cup quarter-final win over Southampton represented progress earlier this month but a first outing since September has since been followed up by an absence from the entire Premier League festive period.

It’s understood Chiesa trained as normal on Friday in the build-up to Sunday’s 5-0 hammering of West Ham United but the Azzurri international was once more conspicuous by his absence on match day for the league leaders.

“Federico, I’ve said it many times already,” Slot said when asked after the win at West Ham. “We are working on two things we are working about on his match fitness and whenever we can we try to bring him with the team.

“But he was on the bench during the week and we thought it was better for him to have some extra training sessions instead of joining us. So it’s the constant balance we have to find between getting him fitter and fitter and let him join the team.”

With a two-legged Carabao Cup semi-final to come in January and an FA Cup third-round tie at home to Accrington, there are games available to Chiesa, if he can prove his fitness.

At the same time, however, whispers in Italian media about interest from Serie A clubs have never really disappeared and Liverpool may even see their resolve tested in the form of loan proposals and promises to get their attacker fit and firing once more.

Liverpool are insistent Chiesa is a long-term project and Slot has never given an indication that he is frustrated by the player’s inability to stake a more consistent claim.

Given the way the rest of his frontline department are performing just now, Mohamed Salah in particular, Slot’s calmness around the situation is not without reason but January could quietly become the most important period yet where Chiesa is concerned.