The Curious Cult Of Chiesa
In his book on the subject, Leo Moynihan describes a Liverpool cult hero as one who offers something “distant but fantastic”. A cult hero is someone who may or may not be memorable for what they did on the pitch, but has that oftentimes inexplicable something extra. With that in mind, it makes perfect sense that Moynihan’s own curated list includes the likes of Joey Jones and Luis Garcia alongside the likes of John Barnes and Robbie Fowler. Even in those terms, the cult phenomenon sometimes appears in the most unusual places, as it does with Federico Chiesa.
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An Atypical Debut Season
Chiesa was the one fresh face in Arne Slot’s maiden voyage. The former Juventus man was a £10 million acquisition. Chiesa came with a reputation for being skillful and diligent, but fragile. Chiesa found himself frequently sidelined by injury. I recall being somewhat annoyed by the acquisition when it was first announced. It seemed like dumb money in a season where we weren’t doing any real transfer business to speak of. If were weren’t revamping the squad, I didn’t see what buying a single injury-prone striker was going to accomplish.
In retrospect, I can see the vision, especially considering that our lack of attacking depth completely scuppered the 2024 season. Even so, Chiesa did not see much action this season. He was easily the last-choice attacker even as the front line thinned out from injury. His notorious propensity for injury meant that he was not given the benefit of a pre-season. He struggled to keep up with the starting XI due to the hectic training schedule demanded of Liverpool’s season.
The Chiesa Cult Inexplicably Forms
Despite this, seemingly out of nowhere, Chiesa got elevated to cult hero status as the season came to a close. A custom order song greeted Chiesa as he made his first and only start of the season, guaranteeing him just enough playing time to earn a winner’s medal. Special attention was paid to him during the title celebrations and the trophy parade. Somehow, despite all odds, the Italian international has captured the hearts of the Liverpool faithful.
Chiesa’s sudden apotheosis has its critics. They’re all fairly simple: He hasn’t earned it. Some call him a disappointment, others say he hasn’t proven himself. Both seem to think we’re all better off just moving on. This is, I think, an unnecessarily judgmental appraisal of a man who hasn’t even truly had the opportunity to fail to prove himself. Moreover, it misunderstands how cult heroes are made. It doesn’t have to make sense. Cult hero status doesn’t have to be reserved for the players who have done the most. Sometimes the stars just align that way. Chiesa just so happened to benefit from just the right collision of factors that allowed him to be totemized at the end of the season.
But Why?
First is simply the novelty factor. As the only new addition to the squad this season, he’s still in the midst of his honeymoon period. In a transfer period where the club was being criticized at all angles for not being ambitious enough, the one signing we did manage to make was certain to be buoyed by that restlessness. The fact that Chiesa came in at the same time as Slot also helped. Being the new guy in one of the most successful maiden campaigns in Liverpool history certainly has its perks. Amid a jubilant mood at the end of our title season, Liverpool supporters were ready and willing to celebrate anything. It’s unlikely that the Kop would have had quite so much patience with Chiesa had he not been in the midst of such a dominant title campaign. But that’s the game for you.
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Second, Chiesa has the benefit of being a careful investment. His signing represents a low-risk, high-return gamble quite unlike that of other Premier League strikers. We’re a club in desperate need of some heft and consistency up front. Signing a forward with Chiesa’s reputation for such a low price tag is a huge bargain. If he works out, we’ve got a dedicated, hardworking striker to shore up the ferocity of Mohamed Salah. If he doesn’t work out, the absolute worst case scenario is that the club is out a truly negligible amount of money in the grand scheme of our overall Premier League net spend.
Chiesa’s sterling reputation in Italian circles means we’re fairly likely to recoup his fee at least. The low stakes of Chiesa’s transfer mean that he can be given a considerable amount of slack. He doesn’t have to be putting up Erling Haaland numbers to justify a hefty price tag. A closer comparison would be El Hadji Diouf. Hopefully, I don’t have to elaborate on how low that bar is.
Filling In An Eroding Gap
Speaking of which, Chiesa seems to be an unconscious replacement goldfish for his predecessor cult hero. Fan patience seems to have become completely exhausted with Darwin Nunez. Even I, who have been completely steadfast in defending Nunez as a work-in-progress rather than a flop, can’t really excuse his performance this season. In both cases, it’s less about his statistics and more about the fact that he appears to have given up. Those qualities which endeared him to fans – his passion, his work rate, his love of the shirt – have completely dried up.
In no less than two games, his palpable lack of effort was so glaring that Arne Slot himself felt compelled to comment on it. It’s a particularly inexcusable lapse considering that his ban from international competition means that he should have the full measure of his attention to devote to Liverpool. Perhaps he’s checked out because he thinks he’s leaving, perhaps he’s decided that there’s no place for him in Slot’s Liverpool. Either way, it’s hard to maintain a cult around a hollow figure. Chiesa was seemingly swept up into the void left behind by Nunez by a Kop hungry for an unconventional hero.
Is There A Future?
And why Chiesa? Perhaps there’s a general recognition that he’s been hard done by. As opposed to others who have taken their place in the starting lineup for granted, Chiesa has worked his hardest in the precious few minutes he’s been given. For a fan base routinely caricatured as fickle and reactionary, Liverpool fans have an extraordinary capacity for giving their players a fair shake. Provided a footballer shows a strong desire to play with the liver bird on their chest, the Kop is willing by default to celebrate them as a hero. It showcases our best qualities to be willing to invest in a player who has sputtered out of the gates. And this is the perfect moment to do so.
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There was a sense of celebration surrounding the fact that Chiesa would get his medal, although he didn’t contribute that much to the title campaign, because why not? He’s had his moments, against PSV and at Wembley in particular. It was all a part of a festive environment that couldn’t be shaken even by losses, own goals, and nonsensical officiating. Why shouldn’t we take the opportunity to celebrate a player who hasn’t had the opportunity to really experience Anfield yet? Chiesa may or may not be sticking around for another season. If he does leave, he will at least leave with a Premier League winner’s medal. Additionally, he experienced being adored by the best fans on the planet. And why pass up the opportunity to let him leave fondly?
If he does stick around, it will be as a long-term project, and emotional investment today potentially means glorious celebration tomorrow. At the end of the day, however unexplainable the suddenness of Chiesa’s rise to cult status, it’s all in good fun. And really, that’s the point of having cult heroes in the first place. The conclusion of the title campaign was accepted as an occasion for devil-may-care silliness of all types. Why should this be any exception? Liverpool fans have been scolded enough this season. It’s far past time to just let Kopites have their fun.