By Scott Stewart
In the summer of 2009 directly after the loss of ‘the greatest midfielder in the world’ Xabi Alonso, Liverpool proceeded to sign Alberto Aquilani for £20 million pounds. Initially, I remember being very excited signing the young man after having seen him play at AS Roma and score a few goals, as well as see him play for Italy in their World Cup qualifiers. So the Aquilani era began and I called him “Aquiman” after the famous superhero “Aquaman” and he made his debut for the reserves. He finally made his debut for Liverpool in the first team in the Carling Cup loss to Arsenal, coming on as a sub in the 77th minute. He proceeded to play in the Champions League and the Europa League for us, until he began to show his true self. Aquilani became injured and missed several games for Liverpool, a point which arguably ended his career at Liverpool. Rafa Benitez began to get impatient with Aquilani’s injuries calling him a “fake” and admitting he may have made a mistake in signing him. Rafa was dismissed that summer and Roy Hodgson took over. Roy tried to play Aquilani in a few preseason games but admitted that Aquilani wished to return to Italy to regain his ‘true form.’
That poses the question, should Aquilani return to Liverpool?
My answer: No, and here’s why. First off, Aquilani used to be a needed player in the game for Liverpool, but after the addition of a quite in form Raul Meireles, Aquilani’s spot in midfield is covered. A few may argue, well if Meireles is unavailable who shall Liverpool start? Jay Spearing is an excellent young player who has a bright future for Liverpool. Therefore, Aquilani’s spot is no longer available to him because Liverpool have found midfielders who are not injured and in form. Secondly, Aquilani will not produce what Raul Meireles has for LFC. In the 24 games Raul Meireles has featured for Liverpool, he has five goals, three assists, and 20 shots on target, including five goals in the last seven games against opponents like Chelsea and Wolves. In the twelve games Aquilani was actually fit for Liverpool, he had scored 1 goal, had six assists, and only 13 shots on target, in the exact same position that Meireles plays in. In summary, Meireles has produced five more goals and seventeen more chances than Aquilani did in just 12 more games and arguably Meireles hasn’t played in the right position for the 20 games that Roy was the manager, considering the fact that Roy admitted he didn’t know Meireles’s true position. A final argument, Aquilani has proven he cannot thrive in the English game. Forget Liverpool for a second. Aquilani just produces more figures in the Italian game than in the English game. With all due respect to Aquilani, he simply cannot play in England. In the five years he has spent in Italy since the 2005/06 season, Aquilani has started in 59 games in league play for both AS Roma and Juventus and has scored 11 goals in those games. In the nine league games he started for Liverpool, he scored one goal. In Italy, that means Aquilani has averaged a goal around every five or six games. For Liverpool, he averaged one every nine games, because he only played nine league games. He simply puts up better numbers in Italy than he does in England.
Aquilani has had his chances at Liverpool, was too injured to play half of the games according to himself, and didn’t produce great figures for Liverpool in the nine games he’s played for them. In Italy, Aquilani is a different player and his position for LFC is gone now thanks to the likes of Meireles and Spearing. Aquilani has no place at Liverpool any longer. So to Aquilani, thank you for what you contributed but please, stay in Italy. Liverpool FC does not need Aquilani to return.
Well me too mate.i’d rather we sold aquilani for 15 million than have him back.in alberto’s position we have gerrard,meireles who are better.at other positions like wingers,left back for example we should spend money.
Reina
Johnson Carragher Agger Baines
Gerrard Adam
A.Young Bastos
Suarez Carroll
YNWA
I think he should be given another season at Liverpool, I think we start to many games with a very average bench and if that means we get Aquilani back into the squad that so be it, he’s had a decent time and Juventus and could maybe provide something worth using.
Had Aquilani been given the chance to bed in to the liverpool team, the way merieles had it could have been a completely different story.
Stats can be used to prove anything. Aquilani showed glimpses of real class but never had an extended run of games to showcase his class.
Showing this, without comparing how many goals or assists or shots on target Merieles produced in his first 12 games for Liverpool is irresponsible and unfair.
I disagree. Aquilani should return. That way we can play Aquilani, Gerrard and Meireles in midfield and we can sell Lucas. This midfield will finally give us enough attacking power and creativity to create enough chances to beat defensive teams.
I do feel the same about Spearing, but we need more options. If Aquilani doesn’t return, I would strongly suggest going for another player. Defour or a similar player could be a great addition.
Is he quality?, yes, have got enough quality passers at the club?, no!. Of course he must come back…..end of!!!!
Aquilani, 12 games, 1 goal and 6 assists, 13 shots on target. So 7 goals are directly attributed to him. Meireles, 24 games, 5 goals, 3 assists, 20 shots on target. 8 goals are directly attributed to him. Aquilani, in half the games, contributed 7/8 what meireles has? Also it took meireles what, 4 months of constant starting to actually score those goals? Aquilani is good enough.
Jay Spearing is no cover whatsoever. If we can’t find an adequate buyer for Aquilani, I fully support his return. Gerrard isn’t going to last forever.
wise up lad!…he’s a top player, although was silly buying him whilst injured, its obvious the lads got creativity and yes he may be weak too weak for the prem at the moment, but last i recall melwood as a gym and and strength conditioning session would give him what he needs to be a star!
Give Aquilani a fair chance at Liverpool. He is way better than Lucas and Spearing. Lucas and Spearing are more defensive midfielders who cannot dictate the play, whereas Aquilani has more playmaking ability and much better technically. He’ll be cover for Meireless. Look at what happened against west ham. Meireless had to go out and N’Gog came in for him. Our bench was shocking. We need a better squad and he provides cover for the more creative midfielders.
Anyway, that’s my two cents. Catch you on twitter
I’m afraid, Scott, I couldn’t disagree more. Before Hodgson left, people were saying the same about Meireles and Johnson, under The King both have been revitalised. Aquilani was injured when we bought him and due to fitness and injuries he never got a look in during Rafa’s final rudderless season. I would trust Kenny to get the best out of him and if he could get him to look half the player he’s looked in Italy, he would be a major asset. On a more practical perspective, spending £20m on a player to dump him barely a season later does not make any sense, even if that was a decision taken taken by those no longer at the club. If he goes, it would be sad, but I wouldn’t take much less than we paid Roma for him, after all with the home grown rule coming into play he would represent a big asset for any of the top Serie A sides.
Personally I think we still lack creativity in the centre. Ideally I’d like a swap, aquilani for marchisio, but I’d settle for aquilani back.
Aquilani is a slightly more creative force mostly due to his better passing ability. On the other hand he spends too much time on the ball and has injury problems. I agree that he shouldnt return but we cannot look to spearing for back up to play behind the striker as his talents lie deeper. After watching a lot of the reserves I think Pacheco is most suited to this as he has great passing ability to complements his creativity and he has good control and finishing. Shelvey has, to some extent, also shown skill in this position although i dont think he is a solution to this problem.
i read ur artcle half way n stopped readin further. ur stats don mak ne sense. most imp u don wan a player cause he has been plagued wid injuries, my question to u is if stevy wer in the same situation wld u still ply spearing against the likes of manus, arse n chelskis. aqua still has quality, exprience n is a real ply maker. can still b the GFRANCO ZOLA 4 us. n u don wan him to go cheap. UNLESS he jus doesnt want to com back.
Can we all quit the Lucas slamming. He’s good enough for Brazil, a tidy passer and tackler and the best player on the field both times against Chelsea. He is a much more complete player than years before. I’d be devastated if we sold him. He’s all about efficiency!
We need quality strength in depth, Aquilani is a quality player. We have struggled for a long time because we only have poor or average players on the bench. We need a strong first 11 and a strong bench if we are ever going to compete for the major honours. We need to be clearing out the poorer players who have no future at LFC not the players who have talent.
Need quality on bench , bring him back
“On the other hand he spends too much time on the ball”
Er, have you ever watched him? He probably hits more one-touch passes than any other player when he’s on the pitch.
yes….ur spot on…just watch him now…at juventas..soo many one touch passes with accuracy .,
people r just saying one thing injuries injuries thats all.but doesnt gerrard has injuries ?
an is that aqualani’s fault that we bought him here in the toughest league with a brocken leg ….that is past now
after recovery he started playing for us..but common ..he must be having slight doubt abt that injury in his mind that time anybody will..thats y he wasnt giving 100%
look his performance in end part last year…in europa semi.n all.he had started to rediscover his magic …..but that old fart hodgson ..sent him and replaced him with paulson …
and guys i know we love raul….but aqua is far more attacking..n. has.quality passing then any other midfielder in our team…
Gerrard, Lucas, Meireles, Aquilani and Shelvey – now that sounds like a quality midfield for a top-4 team!
bring him back, give him another chance under kk.
DO NOT SELL HIM ON THE CHEAP EVEN IF HE WANTS TO STAY BACK HOME IN ITALY. This is also a business not about feeling homesick missing grandpapa!
As for Lucas; he has improved but still gives away fouls & the ball in dangerous positions, KK please work with him.
WE looked like the Pool of old when a lot more people got in the box to score, problem is he gets nose bleed when he is that far up.
Has the Arsenal v Maure auction for Reina started yet?
We need players talented players that want to wear the sacred shirt, not those who actually say I never kissed the badge.
YNWA
we should bring him back 100% we need quality in depth and he has the ability to change tempo of
something sadly lacking in our midfield. give kenny chance 2get best out of him before we sell at big loss.
Aquilani is a a quality player when he’s fit. I’d take him back but I doubt his heart would be in it, looks like he’d prefer to stay in Serie A.
And Spearing is not the asnwer. To say he’s got a golden future at the club is optimistic. He’s a wirral lad so his heart is definitely in it, but don’t put pressure on the lad. If he keeps improving and working hard he’ll be a good squad player for us for a good few years. He’s not the next Gerrard though unfortunately.
Good article but I have to disagree with it. On form and uninjured, Meireles will be the man of choice. Spearing is a defensive midfielder and will take a couple of seasons to mature. Therefore, we need creativity and depth in our squad and Aqua is just the man. After all we bought him for 20 mil. Give the guy a second chance!
Give over, spearing! don’t be silly tbh I wouldn’t even have him on the bench without being 2 cruel 2 the lad he just not good enough
Aquaman all day
The way Gerrard is playing, I’d have Aquiman back in a second.
tolol la penulis artikal nie…
bring back my aquaman
I would rather have Adam who is prem proven but aqua has quality something we need. Our first team is great but injuries put us in a bad spot with the lack of quality on the bench. We need 1-leftback 1-centralmid 2-4-wingers and maybe 1 more striker to compete next year for the top.
If we need to go out to buy him, then I would say we don’t need him. Even his current Italian club that he is loaned out to, are not dying to sign him on permanently at 11m. But since he is already a Liverpool player, might as well bring him back and gel him into the team. We need more quality on the bench than the ones who are here currently.
Rafa was stupid to sign an injured player for 20m at the time when he needed able bodied players who can perform on the field to produce results and knowing at the time that he has insufficient back up players!
I thought that was the whole point of the loan deal, to get aquilani back to fitness playing the football he is used to playing at a slower pace than the prem. I would like to see him back.
If Juv want to hold on to him, 20 mil no less, I don’t see why we should be getting ripped off losing out.
Good article but you missed the main point bro; Aquilani has made it clear he doesn’t really want to come back, I’ve read numerous articles and seen him on TV twice stating he’d love to stay at Juve and Italy his home country where he’s mOre popular in general. His agent is also trying his best for the permanent transfer. Good player but as said in the article too injury prone and maybe not the most suited to the BPL.
If I was a betting man I’d go with Aquilani to complete his transfer back to Italy this summer as I feel it’s pretty much a done deal at the end of the day!
YNWA KK Klan
No Vidic or Ferdinand Sunday – Carroll debut Suarez fresh The Kop!!!!!!
lol….crap article…comparing Aquilani to Spearing…?
Aquilani just started 9 matches for us and has 6 assists. thats a fantastic ratio. And whenever he had played, he was the better playeer on the pitch…. not taking anything away from Meireles. I feel Aqua is more complete player than Meireles.
I’d have Aquilani back in a heartbeat. Yes, most of last season was wretched, but I remember seeing glimpses of Liverpool starting to play some truly beautiful pass and move football towards the end of the season with Aquilani in the middle of it all. His quick thinking and vision is second to none and Liverpool seemed to play better with much crisper passing when he was in the team. I recall one particular move in the Atletico game at Anfield that was simply breathtaking.
How can Spearing replace Mereiles or Aqua if required. They very different players
From what is being said on the italian front, especially declarations made by top Juventus officials, it seems highly unlikely that Aquilani will return to Liverpool. They are just haggling over the price. The player has fitted perfectly and has featured in all games bar one for a minor muscle strain and he has been running the midfield for the Turin outfit with rave reviews.
I’d want him back, but he won’t come because he knows he will not be guaranteed a starting berth at Anfield.
You’ve really skewed a lot fo figures there to make a point which just isn’t correct.
You’ve taken an Aquilani who didn’t have a chance to get up a run of good form and compared his 12 disjointed games which were scattered across many weeks and compared it to Meireles’ last few games, which have been the ONLY game where he has shown good form.
Try comparing both of their first 12 games to eachother and you could write the opposite article to this.
Statistics could prove anything – you’ve proved that here.
i am afraid to say that we still lack the consistent creativity in the midfield, and we need one more midfielder and spearing still needs time and i thnk in that time we’ll have Coady (he can play DM) ready for us. We shouldnt buy Charlie Adam, better give shelvey more games and young players like suso & Pacheco. i wud like to keep AQUILANI and pair him with meireles as AM and lucas and gerrard as CM. Better buy one holding mid, to compete with lucas.
And what we really need is a quality winger…
list : Arda Turan, Balas Dzsudzsak, Gervinho, Afellay, Miralem Sulejmani , Krkic(if we can or loan), Loïc Remy, Juan Mata.
Aqua is a very good player. He should be given a chance. We need a defensive midfielder too. Moussa sissoko, Matuidi,Mvilla etal
Aquilani proved less suited than Bruno Cheyrou or Salif Diao , why they hell would we want a failure back after he asked to leave ?
We need to sign , guts ambition & drive , not fancy flicks & an inability to impose his game on the League that already disrespects him .
I’d pay Juve £20 million to keep him .
Yes! Squad depth needed. When he came off the bench for Italy v Germany last month he started spraying quality passes around and his impact livened the whole team up (they scored shortly after) – something we desperately needed against the Hammers. Rafa treated him badly, especially dropping him after his MOTM display against Spurs last season. Give him a chance and KK is an awesome man-manager.
YNWA
This is one of the worst written pieces I have ever read. Admittedly Raul Meireles is a better player but if you had watched Aquilani for Juventus he is playing good football and up till recently he has been injury free. If juventus don’t stump up the 12 million I would give him a season under king kenny, look at how he has turned Meireles’ season around. Give the lad another chance !
All of you bring up excellent points. Those were just my reasons on why he shouldn’t come back. Most valuable point I’ve heard is that there is no reason for him to come back if HE doesn’t want to. All true mates. YNWA and let’s look forward to Sunday.
Hindsight is always great when analysing but as you state Aquilani scored 1 in 12 you find that Meireless had not scored in his first 12 games and he came in fit off a good world cup.
Comparing like for like would bring a good analysis. I believe comparing Meireles and Aquilani is really comparing goals score by a playmaker and a box to box midfielder. Playmaker creates for others while box to box midfielder is expected to score more than he creates given he has licence to roam much further than a playmaker as demanded by the role.
If we cant beat Wigan at home or even get a draw away to West Ham & both of them are in the bottom 3 in our last two league games then how the hell could we possibly look forward to playing the team thats top of the league & happens to be Man Utd ?
No fault to Kenny I have blind faith in him & wont be at all surprised if he comes up with a subtle wee tactic they wouldnt have prepared for & unsettle em enough for us to get a result but its impossible to look forward to it .
With the soft bellied excuse making prideless shower of shit we have on our books it has been a chore , a labor of love following Liverpool this past 5 seasons , hell apart from 2 or 3 false dawns , this past 20 seasons !!!
Every time they earn a wee bit of trust or faith in them they turn around & surrender without even putting up a fight like they did at West Ham & make mugs outa us .
Fuck em , to hell with em , I’ll do my duty , turn up in the hope I wont wittness another weakling disasterous display .
It may be true that he is not fit for English games, but I think it’s a bit harsh to say he is not needed. I suppose if he comes back, he will be a good addition, since his outstanding passing sense may match Kenny’s football philosophy, pass and move. However, he admitted that he wants to stay in Italy, so it may not be a good idea to force him back. Nevertheless, I am sure we will try to buy Charlie Adam, who was one of our main targets, in the summer, but if it fails and Juventus cannot pay the sum we want, it is not a bad idea to have him back.
I think we should get him back! afterall it would be a joke to let him go for 6 mil after we paid 20!! Also I believe he would fit into our midfeild extremely well working with meireles and the current style of play implemented by the King.
He’s a great passer of the ball, can spread it extremely well.. with the likes of andy carroll as a target i’m sure the Aquaman could pop it right on his barnet!
Also many will disagree but I still feel as though Lucas is not good enough, he “hangs” on the ball and gets caught in posession far too ofter.. not to mention he’s a very basic player with no skills or creativity, also Gerrards time is up for me, i think we need to start “fazing” him out next season. RANT OVER.. Bring AQUA BACK!
Mate, Aquilani was signed for €20M EURO, NOT £20M POUNDS. Which equates into more like £17M pounds. Less once you take into account how the Euro has fallen in value since we signed him.
This information is freely available on the web through Roma’s website.
Having such a factual error in the opening sentence of your article does not bode well and it lessens any argument you might have later on – which for the record I don’t agree with; 12 games, 6 assists is a great ratio for any player (worthy of a Fantasy Football place!) and we could easily have Aquilani and Meireles competing for the same role as the midfield playmaker. Which can’t be a bad thing, because we have seen that Raul despite his prowess in front of goal, is not made of steel.
Just watching Gary Neville’s Testimonial against Juve-Aquilani should be given a real chance because liverpool’s biggest problem is the quality chasm.While Lucas and Spearing have performed ok, they should both be used as back up / rotation_- they are not talented enough for the 1st team if we want to challenge for silverware..oh and while I’m at it get rid of the French tw*t Ngog-It’s a disgrace he was ever allowed to play in the 1st team..no wonder Torres wanted to leave having to play alongside that useless…He must have looked over at him on the pitch and thought “what the F…?” Deep breaths Nurse? where are my blood pressure pills!