Jamie Carragher: Hardly-seen Liverpool player showed 'glimpse' of an '£80m' star

Liverpool legend Jamie Carragher was delighted with what he saw from new boy Federico Chiesa in their 5-1 League Cup win over West Ham on Thursday (September 25).

The victory at Anfield marked the 26-year-old’s first start for the club since joining from Italian giants Juventus for £12.5million in the summer.

Chiesa showed exactly why Arne Slot and Liverpool’s fabled recruitment team were so keen on bringing him to Anfield before being substituted on the hour mark.

Speaking just ahead of halftime, Carragher couldn’t hide his excitement over the little Italian winger’s full debut.

“Chiesa was an £80million player a few years ago,” Carragher said on Sky Sports. “He showed a glimpse there.

“Liverpool have signed him for £10m but after Italy won the Euros he was worth £70-80million. If he can get to that level again, then Liverpool could have a big player.”

Federico Chiesa makes a big impression on Liverpool legend Jamie Carragher

Carragher’s comments came moments after Chiesa’s cheeky nutmeg on the unfortunate victim and West Ham right-back Vladimir Coufal, who had no answer to the winger’s trickery.

His best moment, however, came in the 25th minute, providing an acrobatic assist for Diogo Jota to score Liverpool’s equaliser following Jarell Quansah’s own goal.

It’s clear Chiesa’s half bicycle-kick was intended for goal but Jota was in the right place at the right time to flick it on, as he so often is.

That’s one assist in one start for the Italy international, but his impressive stats don’t end there.

Chiesa ended his game having misplaced just two passes, completed 50 per cent of his crosses and made two defensive recoveries.

In the end, Liverpool had too much for West Ham-Jota’s second goal just after half-time saw West Ham heads drop.

Mo Salah then killed the game off with their third in the 74th minute, two minutes before Edson Alvarez received his second yellow card and the visitors were down to ten men.

Slot’s side didn’t let up, Cody Gakpo scored twice in added time to secure a comprehensive 5-1 win and send them to the next round.

Liverpool will travel to fellow Premier League side Brighton for the fourth round as their mission to retain the League Cup continues.

In other news, Liverpool set sights on Jeremie Frimpong deal.

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