Federico Chiesa has expressed his eagerness to start for Liverpool following a "really amazing" Anfield debut.
The Italian winger, who joined from Juventus last month for an initial $13m (£10m/€12m), made a significant impact in the final 18 minutes of Liverpool's 3-0 victory over Bournemouth on Saturday as he marked his first home appearance since his transfer.
Chiesa had previously made a brief appearance in Liverpool's 3-1 Champions League win at AC Milan, but he's now eyeing a potential starting role in the upcoming League Cup match against West Ham United, as he works on reaching peak fitness.
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"I am (feeling more sharp)," Chiesa confirmed. "I am training for that, training harder and faster and training to be ready to play. But it depends on the coach and when he wants me to play. I just have to be ready."
Reflecting on his Anfield debut, Chiesa was thrilled, saying: "Hearing 'You'll Never Walk Alone' for the first time from the bench was amazing. It was amazing against Nottingham Forest but unfortunately we lost, but today was really amazing. I enjoyed every bit of it.
"I think I played seven minutes in Milan, not too much, but I was very, very happy to make my debut against Milan. Today I just had to be ready and when the coach told me to get in the game I was so happy. It was also a relief as I wanted to play here at Anfield."
Chiesa, making a bold attempt at goal during his first moments against Bournemouth at the Kop end, remarked on his strike that went directly to goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga.
"I saw the ball bouncing and I was like 'why not? '," he shared. "I was a bit unlucky. Then I hit the post but I was offside. I just came in and wanted to help the team and run for the team, and that's what I'm able to do."
After last week's unexpected domestic stumble against Nottingham Forest, Liverpool showed resilience with a solid performance, Luis Diaz bagging a brace and Darwin Nunez adding to the scoreline.
Chatting post-match with LFC TV, Chiesa expressed: "It was a big result for us, we showed a great performance after a big loss against Nottingham Forest. We needed to bounce back from that. Today we wanted to show we are a big team who wants to perform at the highest level. We have to keep on going like this.
"The Premier League is really tough and we also have the Champions League. But against Milan and today we showed we can have a good run in both competitions."
