23 Nov 2012

LFC hero insists: £20m Rafa flop only good enough for 'average teams'. Agree?

With three goals and three assists in his first six games, Former Liverpool midfielder Alberto Aquilani has made a great start to his Fiorentina career. The much-maligned Italian finally left Anfield in the summer after a largely unsuccessful spell at Anfield, and it's great to see him doing well, but Reds legend Steve Nicol is not convinced that Aquilani's fine start for the Viola proves anything.

Discussing Aquilani on ESPN last night, Nicol conceded that it was 'unfortunate' that Aquilani had a huge transfer fee hanging over his head at Liverpool, and admitted that arriving at the club with an injury probably 'knocked him back' a bit, but he also basically argued that the Italian can only thrive in an average team. He explained:

"He [Aquilani] the type of player who will do well for an average team.

"He’ll stick out, look silky, and score some goals, but when it comes to playing with the top teams, I just don’t think he has the physical or mental strength to produce week-in, week-out".


Aquilani may be gone, but the Reds are still paying for him. The terms of his Fiorentina deal are as follows:

* Three year contract.
* €4m transfer fee.
* LFC pay half his salary (€1.7 million per year) for two years.

Taking into account the €3.4m in wages Liverpool will have to pay over the next two years, the club will end up making a €16m loss on Aquilani, who was signed by Rafa Benitez in 2009 for €18m. Initially, Aquilani's fee was to be paid in installments, but according to LFC's 2010 accounts, the entire amount has already been paid.

To be fair, Aquilani was never really given a consistent chance at Liverpool, and prior to leaving the club, the midfielder complained that he was 'pushed out on loan against his will' by both Roy Hodgson and Kenny Daglish.

Aquilani is undoubtedly a good player with great vision and technique, and it seems wrong that comparatively limited players like Downing, Adam and Spearing were preferred to him during his time at Anfield

However, having said that, in purely financial terms, Aquilani's signing will surely have to go down as one of Rafa Benitez's biggest transfer mistakes.

As for Nicol's comments: there may be some truth to what he says. The expectation at Fiorentina is not as intense as it is at AC Milan and Liverpool, and this possibly helps Aquilani to relax and just get on with enjoying his football.

Jaimie Kanwar


25 comments:

  1. Nicol should have convinced Kraft to buy the club then he could have prevented all the mistakes he blames everyone else for making. It's so easy to stay on the other side of the ocean pretending you know what you're talking about. Benitez was foolish when he bought an injured player to replace one of the best midfielders ever to grace the red of Liverpool. It was, imo, the worst mistake of his reign and he threw a few stinkers along the way. That said, I honestly wonder what Nicol's problem is. At least once a week he feels the need to come out with something negative to say about the club. It's never about how well Alllen is doing or how Suarez is top scorer in the league right now. It's never about how we look like a side in the making. It's always negative. The man has issues.

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  2. This is a really strange one. He has mainly played in pre-season matches for us, but whenever he did, he looked very good. I often got the impression that his team-mates were not up to the clever flick-ons and other neat stuff he did. Whether he is mentally strong enough to play for Liverpool, well, I don't know. Nicol is probably some sort of specialist in psychology to make such a statement from afar. Or he is just talking rubbish again. It's about time he got a coaching job as his constant negativity is no joy to behold.

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  3. Are we still going on about Rafa, Aquilani and Alonso. Jeez.

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  4. This isnt just one or Rafas worst signings, its one of the worst signings ever, not just because he didnt do well, but because it has cost us so much.

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  5. Who cares what Steve Nicol has to say???

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  6. another daily moan from nicol...ginger whinger. as for the comment above about we should of been taken over by Kraft. are you for real, do you know much about the kraft, 1 of the worlds most evil companys. FACT

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  7. rather we hadn't signed Nicol years ago, that way he would be moaning about wolves or what ever club he would of parked his arse at!

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  8. mainly steve nicol and JK!

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  9. Nicol was a great player for us. He played in a number of positions and scored important goals. He is a legend of the club and because of that is entitled to his opinion.

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  10. It seems stupid letting him go for 4 million and paying half his salary. I liked Aqua but when he was here he was always trying to find a move back home so how he managed this without taking a pay cut is beyond me.

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  11. Really tired of debating this. The guy was never ever given a chance, so how can we judge? When he did play he was alright, maybe not worth 20 million, but how is that anything close to buys like Downing, Cole ( check his salary) , Carroll, Henderson. He was disregarded by every manager because they didn't want to show faith in the man. In the end he cost Liverpool even more because he was never used as an option. I honestly thought he would come good, recovering from an ankle injury is not easy, just ask Jack Wilshere.

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  12. agree great player could play anywhere i remember he played as striker once against newcastle scored a hatrick !

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  13. Did we pay €18m or £18m cos if we paid Euros then he wasn't as expensive as its being made out to be ... Plus why oh why are we constantly going on about the amount Rafa spent on players.. Some worked out some didn't that's the risk a manager takes. It's time we moved on and look to the future for a change

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  14. Didn't realise Roma are a small club.

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  15. Benitez made mistake for buying him but I think the medical team has to take the blame as well on this one. I think Aquilani is better than Adam, Henderson, Downing and Cole put together. I've been saying this b4 and I'm going to say this again just why this Nicol boy doesn't apply for the mngrs position when it comes available or why nobody in the club offers him scouts job so he can get the world class players the club needs to win the EPL and CHL every year. Every LFC supporter want that and we would all b happy.

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  16. Worst decade for SeriaA ever. and still they are nowhere near the first place. Yes, a small club.

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  17. I remember thinking Rafa was a complete fool for buying Aquilani whilst injured but the honest truth was that xenophobia kept him out of the team when he was fit. As was already pointed out he was our stand out player during last year's preseason. KD had invested in some real average British signings (you know who!) & in his foolish attempts to give LFC a British dimension he turn our club into the epitomy of mediocrity! I also think letting Meireles leave when he did was also a big mistake too!

    Back to what Nicol has said, it's pure speculation & extrapolation of what might have been. The irony is that LFC are now in a state of mediocrity so following Nicol's logic he could still do a job for us!

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  18. breath in , breath out, he was simply giving an opinion on a player that no longer plays for LFC. Stevie Nichols is always defending LFC , what i do not understand is why LFC fans treat Benitez like he invented football, he was an ok coach , nothing more nothing less. he is no mourinho, no Ferguson(arrogant as he is), not even a harry Rednapp. Rodgers is a better coach, Benitez is a cup coach.

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  19. So it is agreed that hAquilani was definitely good enough for Liverpool at the time we sold him then?

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  20. Ironic really when you consider the words Nicol used.
    So Aquilani will look good in average side then can Nicol explain to us why his buddy Dalglish's purchases Adam,Carroll are not outstanding in average teams such as Stoke and West Ham?

    Funny that eh ?

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  21. While Rafa clearly overpaid for Aqua, I never really blame him for how bad that whole debacle was. Firstly, I think he is a good player. Secondly, his high wages, a big problem for both sets of American owners it seems, were not Rafa's fault, they were the Chief Exec.'s. We actually did a good job of nursing a perpetually injured player back to full fitness in his first year. Then we failed to capitalise on it. I blame Dalglish more than Hodgson, since Hodge just wanted to play hoof ball, but Aqua could have fit in well in Kenny's team (why Charlie Adam? Why!?).

    Good luck to Alberto- if the injuries weren't bad enough, he had to suffer playing for our ridiculously run operation. He lost 3 years of his career.

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  22. How much money have we wasted over the last three regimes?! Can't believe we splashed out 20m for Alberto and another 20m for Downing. no wonder the current owners are like "Helll NO" when asked for any more cash. Return on investment so far = Sweet FA. We could have had a title side 10 times over in the last 10 years with a bit more transfer nouse. It's gonna take a good few years like BR says to mold a squad of his own making out of what he's already working with.

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  23. nicol doesnt have talk shit. how about accounting dalglish for spending mediocre henderson, adam and downing for approximately 50 million when he could have at least tried aquiliani?

    And what sort of deal is this - we sell him for 4 million but still paying some of his wages? why sell him then? Its not as if were flush with creative midfielders. This idea that Aqua will flourish in average team is so hypocritical - we are an average team and have been for 3 years! People are crying about the money spent on aqua what about the 85 million KK wasted on carol adam henderson and downing? Will we ever see 10 million back?

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  24. Aquilani > joe allen atleast whenever he played had great movement and passed the ball forward I agree his wage rate might have been too high but there is no denying he's a quality player.

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