4 May 2012

LFC fans tell Kenny: Bring £18m outcast back to Anfield. Surprising...?

The injury-prone midfielder Alberto Aquilani was expected to secure a permanent deal with Ac Milan at the end of this season, but now it appears that he could be on his way back to Anfield. The question is, do Liverpool fans want the Italian to return...?

Last week, Aquilani's Agent, Franco Zavaglia, admitted that he was unsure whether Milan would make the midfielder's deal permanent, and Kenny Dalglish said something similar in his press conference last week.

Aquilani is a mere four appearances away from triggering a mandatory contract clause, which would require Milan to fork out £5m to make the deal permanent. Comparatively speaking, 5m is a piffling amount of money for a top class midfielder, but given the fact Aquilani has managed only one assist and no goals in the last 19 games, Milan's hesitation is, perhaps, understandable.

Aquilani's return to Anfield would undoubtedly boost the quality of Liverpool's squad, but do fans want him to return? I conducted a poll last week asking that question, and the results were a little surprising:

* Almost 5000 fans voted.
* 68% of people who took part voted for an Aquilani return.

IMO, the result is surprising because:

* A persistent fan complaint about Aquilani is his injury history.

* Despite being injured for three months during his loan spell at Milan, fans still want him back at LFC.

That doesn't say much for Liverpool's current set of midfielders, does it?

Aquilani is a quality player but he's just too injury prone, and if he returned to the Premier League - a more physical league than Serie A - he would inevitably get injured again at some point.

Jaimie Kanwar


30 comments:

  1. Even if he overcomes difficulties of the physical nature of the Premiership, it's just plain wrong to buy/keep players with an injury history like his.

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  2. IM SICK OF YOUR NEGATIVE REPORTS YA TOSSER ARE YOU SURE YOUR A RED JOG ON

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  3.  As much I admire his ability on the ball, passing accuracy, great one touch/first touch, his
    quick thinking, he clearly has no heart to play for us. Why keep players
    who are unhappy? He's contract bound to us, as a professional he must
    see out his contract period. In a way, he justified Rafa's decision as he was never rafa's first choice in many matches.

    He's injury prone, I was not surprised at the poll results given our current results, people need quick fix.

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  4. Modric didn't want to play for Tottenham anymore, Redknap said honour your contract and the rest is history. I really believe that if you value a player at a club like Liverpool then they will want to play for you. IMO his injury problems are offset by how much better he is then the rest of our midfield. I have no problems if he doesn't play for us again as long as we replace our midfield (excluding Gerrard and Lucas).

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  5. I think that he is a quailty player and he deserves a chance at liverpool injury prone or not he has the ability to be a good attacking midfielder that we are crying out for

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  6. Couldn't agree with you more

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  7. had we had him on our side with a decent striker upfront .. we would have easily be fight for a one of the top four positions

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  8. Good technique, good passer and capable of scoring goals, unfortunately he doesn't want to play for Liverpool or in the premier league. So for that reason we should sell him. He isn't cut out for the physical style of our league anyway. Get whatever we can for him and spend it elsewhere. Give Shelvey more playing time, I really believe he is the long term replacement for Gerrard, introduce Coady into the team and hopefully Lucas will come back as good as he was before and our midfield will be strong.

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  9. Agreed, no idea why was he loaned for the last 2 seasons, especially after we fixed him from injury.
    IMO, Modric is the backbone of Tottenham and he is/was not injury prone.
    Aquilani is underrated and after a great pre-season, it doesn't make sense for him to leave, unless kenny had other ideas.
    I remember watching him and shelvey combining well during those games, pure pass and move game.
    I hope the lads give their everything f0r the final

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  10. No goals and 1 assist in 19 games, Always injured.
    Are we clutching at straws wanting to bring him back, he flopped last time or he wouldnt of been shipped out and spent the last two years on loan. If he was any good the Italians would of snatched him up.
    We need proven players who have what it takes, not another Kop Flop like Henderson, Adams and Downing. There is a host of quality foreign players in the Premiership who could be snatched up with the right offer.
    ie Cabyae, Tiote, Dempsey.
    Our scouting system leaves alot to be desired, Everton for example signed Fellaini based on his dazzling display for Standard Liege against us.

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  11. If we were looking for a player of Aquilani's quality, then, i bet he won't be cheaper than 10-15m, so why sell him for 5m??  Considering the amount we'll have to spend to buy a creative midfielder, it makes more sense in bringing Aquilani back and also none of the midfielders we currently have are the creative ones and we won't have to spend any money on him, so why not give him a chance next season, keep him for a season and, if it works out he'll provide us creative options in midfield and if it doesn't work out then sell him. Atleast give him an opportunity to play, he can't be worse than Adam or Henderson. I have watched Aquilani play for Milan and he was good, not their best player but still one of their better players, IMO he is a player Liverpool shouldn't let go so easily. Even if Liverpool are bringing Ramirez still i don't think Liverpool should sell Aquilani. 

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  12. The same could be said for all the new recruits bar Suarez since they all play well within themselves.
    Henderson has even admitted he has been too safe but funnily enough he is even worse now than the period he was referring to in his assessment of himself.
    Charlie Adam was poor for us for a large part of the time he was available and his injury has ruled him out longer than Aqulani's time out.
    It is also worth noting Aquilani has played as a deep lying defensive midfielder for Milan which may explain why his assist record has not been higher. 
    The fact he has played 22 league games in a season he has been injured for 3 months shows Milan were happy enough with his contribution to give him those appearances.

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  13. Hes never ot the chance to play a full season for Liverpool. Why are people judging him already? Yet some people leave out judgements on Carroll hoping he will come good. 

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  14. Aqualini can't do any worse than Adam! I would rather Aqualini play a few games for LFC and get injured than have Adam play for the entire season with no useful contribution.

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  15. Aqualani was never given a propa chance, he was loaned out straight away and never got that time to settle to English premier league style. 


    I rather have Aqualani then any new crap signing made under Dalglish, apart from Suarez 

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  16. Hasn't he played the last two seasons virtually injury free? He had a few weeks out this year but the reason he's not playing is because he's out of favour with Allegri.

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  17. He would add a more attacking oppertunities for us. People say he has no heart to play for us, just look at the game against Atletico Madrid when he scored and had tears in his eyes. He showed passion then but it seems like no manager we have wants to play him.

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  18. He has scored a couple of goals for us.

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  19. In my mind Aquilani is a class player...vision, guile, unpredictability, shooting and passing range... carries a goal threat from midfield (compared to our crop anyway) with timed runs in to the box, and can set the tempo. Regardless of the 'flop' label, he set up 7 goals in the latter part of his only season as a red (despite aclimatising and being pilloried). He also scored what could have been a crucial goal in the uefa cup...which brings me to another point; he's a potential match winner, and one of the few players we have in the final third who will take responsibility (always demanding the ball, willing to take a shot - ahem Henderson).

    Whatever the background I personally think he should not have gone on loan this season, we'd be performing much better with Aquilani playing off Suarez or dovetailing with Gerrard + Lucas. I think one of the main factors in him wanting to go back to italy was fear of not making the national squad (he missed out on the world cup didn't he, after Rafa under utilised him). After the Euros he'll be free to return without that hanging over any decisions... Personally would have him back in a heartbeat, far more creativity and directness than what we currently have.

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  20. Ps. Ditto the comment above...Milan wanted him as a deep-lying playmaker, to replace Pirlo... That should say everything!

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  21. Injury prone is a myth...do you imagine anatomically somebody's joint's cartilages,tendons are stronger than anyone else's .....science would disprove it...make him feel wanted and the little prince would be a frickin sensation at Anfield

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  22. I think when people call the team poor they either forget what our problem has been or don't watch the games. We don't lack creativity we have the fourth most amount of shots on goal in league. That means we are creating chances. The problem has been we have the lowest conversion % in league. So it's not midfield that's the problem. It's conversion. We also have one of the smallest shots at goal against ratios wich means are defence us good but oddly one of the highest conversion rates against so hardly any shots but most went in. Goally and striker issues.

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  23. Your observation on Henderson is indeed very correct, the lad will never improve at all, avoids calling for a pass, passes back or sideways, will actual 'hide' behind an opponent/ref to avoid a pass, why pple leave him out as a flop i don't know, Aquaman has been great at his two loan spells, even his pre-season was brilliant, then he is sent away. The reason he is not willing to play here is that both KD and Woy were interested in their own flop signings not him.

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  24. I don't know where this "he doesn't want to play for us" that many folks keep repeating comes from. Both Kenny and Comolly are on record as saying that he was sent away because Kenny could only see him playing in the same position as Gerrard and he wouldn't get much game time as a result. Comolli even went out of his way to praise Aquilani's attitude.

    Big mistake, considering that the vastly inferior Henderson and Adam get to play pretty much every game when available.

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  25. Here is a video of him for milan. I miss this sort of football. He is a good attack minded player compared to any of our midfield

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p1Ti8h3ePNE 

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  26. just wish he was british.. he would have then may be fit in kd's plan.. he is much better than adam and henderson, and even downing considering downing always cut inside with the balls. I'd rather see him play for three months and get injured for further 2 than seeing the current muppets playing in midfield. with aquilani the team plays better and creative futball, not the boring we are seeing nowadays.. but due to dalgish stupidness and ego in playing henderson, we lost both acquilani on loan and mereiles to chelsea, KD IS TO BE BLAME FOR THAT!! Even kuyt also is looking as if he don't wants to play for lfc anymore after seeing dalgish playing useless and dreadful henderson in each and every match!! KD OUT soonest possible=liverpool progress!!

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  27. Deep lying midfielder - Milan should take a look at Adam

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  28. Bar Gerrard, rest of our current crop of midfielders cannot time their run into the box to support our strikers. Adam is too slow in mind and everything else, and Henderson is too safe-safe. Aquilani will help fix this problem and bag a few goals if he is to play for us again

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  29. Did Aqualani ever say he didn't want to play for Liverpool? probably didn't want to stay because he was hardly ever picked..where in Italy they know him and rate him .

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  30. Jamie, please can you stop putting a one word question after your headline titles. You've started doing it a lot lately and is possibly the single most annoying thing I've ever experienced.

    Thanks

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