I can understand there're few reasons behind Aquilani being left out from the starting match.
1) Competition- We can't afford to slip up in the midfield(allow opposition to counter-attack) and lose all points. No matter how some of us rated Lucas, he does provide us some stability in Midfield, albeit sideway passing/lacked of creativity. Aquilani may be more direct and adventurous or creative, but we have to let him slowly grow in confidence instead of starting him and start losing, then everyone will start giving him hard time which will damper his confidence much further(especially for someone who're trying to adapt to a new league and style of football) .
2- Health- some of the games being played at high tempo and very physical. We can't risk him getting injured again and lose him for another few months.
3- Financial- There're clauses in the contract(as someone posted on some other thread, the real figure of the deal- that was issued by Roma for their shareholders) that stated we have to pay Roma 250,000 for every 35 matches that he played. So, if we want to use him, it is better to use him when he can contribute and in a match that he can contribute- at his full capacity(health & performance)
Obviously, Lucas is currently functioning as a stop gap at this moment(a competent one from my point of view) before we get to see real Aquilani, performing at his full potential(or reputation).
TBH 20millions may sounds a lot.... but if you have 5-6million made available every 6 months and those good players in the range of 12-15million only available on 'Cash' term, then a 3-4months to recovery, good midfielder with 20millions in 5 instalments sounds reasonable.... EXCEPT it didn't go according to plan when those 3-4months turned into 6-7months and what make us look desperate is when we lost few matches in the first few months (and he wasn't available to help our plight), hence the blame on 'LUCAS'.
Don't forget, this buy was done after Xabi handed the transfer request, weeks before the start of the season when most good players already taken up.
« Last Edit: Mar 01, 2010 08:32:31 pm by kookkai »
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