‘Unbelievable’: Buffon stunned by ‘really special’ player Liverpool reportedly want

Follow us on Google Discover

Gianluigi Buffon said he was taken aback by the ‘special’ Federico Chiesa, telling Gazzetta dello Sport that the Italy international and alleged Liverpool target has exceeded his expectations in Turin. 

During the summer of 2020, Juventus signed two exciting young attackers who had established themselves elsewhere in Serie A.

At the time, it was Dejan Kulusevski’s name on the lips of everyone in Turin.  

Sweden’s answer to Kevin de Bruyne had been named the league’s Young Player of the Year on the back of a stunning season at Parma just a few weeks earlier, after all.

So while Kulusevski was expected to become a leading man at the Allianz Stadium, Chiesa was supposed to take up something of a supporting role in an all-star cast; a superfluous, overpriced and totally unnecessary addition to Andrea Pirlo’s squad. 

At least, so said the cynics.

Will Juventus stop Liverpool signing Federico Chiesa?

Flash forward to July 2021 and Chiesa is now threatening Cristiano Ronaldo’s status as the MVP of Juventus, having left Kulusevski choking on his dust during a devastating debut season in black-and-white.

Chiesa has silenced his critics with a series of explosive performances, starring as Italy won the European Championships for the first time since 1968 a fortnight ago.

So while Calciomercato reported earlier in June that Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool had made an enquiry about the now-£77 million-rated Chiesa, you can put the former Fiorentina whizzkid firmly in the ‘unsellable’ category.

“When he arrived at Juve I didn’t think he was so good, if I’m honest,” admitted the legendary Buffon. He was not alone, either.  

“In the European Championships, he was unbelievable. In the final match with England, it was impossible to stop him.

“After a season at Juve with Federico (his performances) are no longer a surprise for me, but it was not obvious that he would be able to play at such a high level in a tournament like the European Championship. 

“If you do those things at such a high level, then it means that you are really special.”

Bayern Munich coach Julian Nagelsmann labelled Chiesa ‘outstanding’ last week, before admitting that the Bundesliga champions could not even dream of signing arguably the most exciting young winger in Europe.