Serie A side Atalanta is being linked with a surprise move for Federico Chiesa as the Italian winger's struggles to get his Liverpool career off the ground continue.

Chiesa joined the Reds from Juventus last summer but has made just four appearances for his new club, with the vast majority of his minutes coming in the Carabao Cup.

The forward did not play at all between September 25 and December 18 as he was put on a specialized training programme in a bid to prepare him for the rigors of English football.

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Chiesa made his comeback appearance during the Carabao Cup win over Southampton a week before Christmas, but has not figured in either of Liverpool's Premier League games since then, against Tottenham and Leicester.

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Chiesa was absent from the Liverpool squad to face Tottenham before Christmas due to illness, while he was an unused substitute against Leicester.

A TEAMtalk report which references reports in Italy suggests Atalanta is considering a move for Chiesa in a bid to boost the club's title chances during the second half of the season.

Atalanta currently sits at the top of Serie A, two points ahead of Napoli in second place, and is aiming to win the Scudetto for the first time in the club's 117-year history.

Atalanta is said to be likely to favor a loan deal with an option to make the deal permanent next summer, but the player's salary could be an issue, so Atalanta and Liverpool would probably have to come to an agreement to share responsibility for paying his wages.

Speaking at the end of November, Slot said that he hadn't entertained the prospect of offloading Chiesa in January, amid reports in Italy that the club was considering doing exactly that.

“That (his exit) hasn’t gone through my mind at all,” Slot said. “The first and foremost is that he gets fit again, and then we can see where he is."

On Chiesa's performance on his return to the team against Southampton last week, Slot said: “I saw ups and downs. I saw some really good moments and I saw some moments where I felt like, ‘OK, you can do better than this’. For me, that’s completely normal if a player’s been out for so long, plays his first game in five or six months probably (three months).”