FEDERICO CHIESA GIVES LIVERPOOL HUGE INJURY WORRY AND HE'S NOT THE ONLY FIRST TEAM STAR

Liverpool's squad is currently scattered across the globe on international duty, following a stellar start to the season under Arne Slot. The Reds have been flawless so far, boasting three victories from three Premier League matches without conceding a single goal.

Yet to make his mark for Liverpool is the recent acquisition of Federico Chiesa. The Italian winger was snapped up from Juventus for a reported fee of $16.5 million after falling down the pecking order at the Turin club. Chiesa's signing seems like a savvy move, bolstering Liverpool's attacking depth. However, his history of injuries could be a cause for concern, and recent data from Sporting Post supports this worry. It's something Liverpool.com identified early on.

The 26-year-old has averaged 95.6 days out injured per season, which is at least a week more than any other Liverpool player. This isn't entirely surprising given that Chiesa only made 10 appearances for Juve in all competitions last season and just 18 in the 2021/22 campaign.

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Next in line is centre-back Ibrahima Konate with 88.8 days sidelined due to injury, followed by forward Diogo Jota. On the flip side, Wataru Endo and Alexis Mac Allister are among the least injury-prone players, having spent just 12.8 and 15.4 days out injured respectively.

Stephen Smith, CEO of Kitman Labs, may have a solution to mitigate future injury woes. His company specializes in sports science and performance intelligence, and has collaborated with the Premier League and hundreds of other sports clubs and organizations.

"We typically can't isolate a single variable and proclaim that it's the lone contributing factor," he explained to the Manchester Evening News back in May. "If we want the answer, we need to ask the real question. It's not 'what's the main cause,' it's what do we know or understand about the contributing factors that led to it."

"It's about better understanding what athletes are doing, how they're recovering, gaining a better understanding on how they move, how they sleep."

"Moreover, it's about understanding each individual athlete's strength and fitness profile at the same time, and being able to track, monitor and quantify all these things, then understand and identify the patterns that emerge prior to injuries occurring, which will allow clubs to make more informed decisions in the future and apply those insights or that knowledge to managing their athletes moving forward."

With the likes of Chiesa among Liverpool's roster, injury worries are never far from discussion. For a comprehensive roundup on which Reds players are most and least susceptible to injuries, check out the full breakdown below....

Most injury prone

Federico Chiesa - 95.6 (Average days sidelined per season)

Ibrahima Konate - 88.8

Diogo Jota - 76.8

Virgil van Dijk - 63.8

Alisson - 53.8

Joe Gomez - 51.6

Dominik Szoboszlai - 49.8

Andrew Robertson - 47

Curtis Jones - 46

Luis Díaz - 45.4

Least injury prone

Wataru Endo - 12.8

Alexis Mac Allister - 15.4

Ryan Gravenberch - 21.2

Caoimhín Kelleher - 23

Cody Gakpo - 28.2

Mohamed Salah - 29

Konstantinos Tsimikas - 29.6

Harvey Elliott - 35

Trent Alexander-Arnold - 44

Darwin Nunez - 44.4

2024-09-07T14:38:19Z dg43tfdfdgfd