Federico Chiesa only played a couple of minutes for Liverpool under Andoni Iraola, and Italy manager Roberto Mancini has given him an ultimatum about his international future

Italy manager Roberto Mancini says Federico Chiesa could still find himself back in the international picture in the future, but only if he gets back to playing regular soccer again.

Chiesa, now 29, has played just a couple of minutes under Andoni Iraola at club level this term. He has unsurprisingly been left out of the Italian national team squad for this international break and last represented his country in 2024.

Liverpool's number 14 was named in the Italy squad for the first time since then by Gennaro Gattuso before the World Cup play-offs earlier in the calendar year, but he later withdrew.

Chiesa was left out of the Italy squad named in June, and then Mancini did not name him in his first roster during the previous international break.

Having been left out of the Liverpool squad for the Champions League group phase and with several others ahead of him in the pecking order, including Lewis Koumas, where the Italian forward's next minutes will come from is unclear.

It might make most sense for Chiesa to depart in January, and he has regularly been linked with various Serie A sides almost ever since he moved to Anfield just over two years ago.

"I spoke to Federico many times, also recently," Mancini said during a press conference.

"He’s not playing right now and must regain fitness, but he is 29, still in his physical maturity; I think he can return soon."

Last month, the former Juventus player Angelo Di Livio urged Chiesa to leave Liverpool and go somewhere that he can play more often.

Speaking to ReteSport, he said: "He [Chiesa] made a mistake in joining Liverpool. A player who knows how to play football always knows how to do it.

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"He needs to recover, but I'd take him since he can play on both flanks. With Gasperini [at Roma], Chiesa would return to the national team."