Alberto Aquilani Player Thread

I will be honest, i havnt seen much of the lad. From reading stuff on the internet, he seems to be highly rated in Italy. But so was Dossena. For a supposedly more attacking player than Alonso he has'nt scored too many goals in his time. His injuries also worry me. Be arsed having another great player who can only sit on the treatment table all season long.

Let's hope he stays injury free and shows us he is just as good if not better than Alonso. Rafa obviously rates him highly. When he signed Alonso he was right, lets hope Aquiliani is another mastertroke.

I know the injury record is a worry but I don't think Rafa would have spent this money on him if he had major doubts.
It was not a rush signing after all. Glad that this bit of business had concluded swiftly. One more signing??

Well done Rafa, i like the look of this lad, no hes not the same type of player as Alonso but hell bring a different type of quality to our midfield. Weve got enough quality and experience in our squad to cope well enough without him. And ive got a sneaking feeling that we might just not miss Alonso at all. So lets give the lad a right real Anfield welcome and get behind him from the start and be patient with him too, as it may be difficult for him at first . But Rafa knows whats what and i trust his judgement, after all he was the one who brought Alonso from the wilderness.

Welcome Alberto Aquilani.

Looking forward to seeing this lad in a Liverpool shirt.

For once, it's a relief, and time to spend what's left of our cash yet!

Welcome Alberto, I was a bit worried when Arbeloa left because there wasn't an active player with my initials. I guess Rafa took that into account when he signed Aquilani.

I'm quite excited, if he adds a few more goals then all the better, and a more direct attacking threat. I have every confidence in Mascherano to cover the defence more or less single handed, he's the best in the world at it.

Let's grab the title with both hands, perhaps this signing could be the first step towards it.

Hoping we get David Villa then for a player with my initials

Hope we see Alberto in action against Athletico in some capacity, excited to see him now.

His injured though he ain't going to be ready for spurs game.

This lad has great attacking and defensive ability and has a good shot on him, lets hope between he and Gerrard we can get a long range goal every 2 games
considering before this deal (but after Xabi deal) we had around 55mil - 60mil I think we have PLENTY left for Silva
15mil to start with +
9.5mil (Dossena, arby, and leto deals
30-34mil (Xabi)
________________________ _____
55mil (about )   -
17mil (for Aquillani, and as ive heard between 16-18mil
________________________ _____
38mil

enough for Silva IMO

Liverpool agree fee for Aquilani

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/l/liverpool/8186102.stm
Liverpool have confirmed they have agreed a fee with Roma for Italian midfielder Alberto Aquilani.
The transfer is reported to be worth £20m and is subject to a medical being completed later in the week.
"Alberto has a winning mentality and great experience in both Serie A and the Champions League," said Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez.
The move comes just hours after the Reds sold Spanish midfielder Xabi Alonso to Real Madrid for £30m.
Aquilani, 25, has played 11 times for Italy and has been with Roma, the club he supported as a child, since he was 16, making his debut as an 18-year-old under now England boss Fabio Capello.
"Aquilani has long been recognised as a top class talent in Italy, captaining his country at both Under 19 and Under 21 levels before establishing himself in the senior national side," said Benitez.

A statement on the Liverpool website added: "Liverpool concluded their discussions with Roma once the sale of Xabi Alonso to Real Madrid was finally agreed."
The midfielder has not played since March due to an injury to his right ankle, which he had surgery on in May.
This restricted him to just 14 appearances for Roma last season.
Aquilani is set to be Liverpool's second major signing of the close season after England right back Glen Johnson joined from Portsmouth for an undisclosed fee in June.
Earlier on Wednesday, Benitez had stated that Liverpool would seek "the best replacement" for Spanish international Alonso after he completed his move to the Bernabeu.
"As soon as he told us that he wanted to leave we started working, looking for players," said Benitez.
The Reds had also been linked with Wigan's Lee Catermole and Valencia's David Silva.
Last summer a move for then Aston Villa midfielder Gareth Barry - now at Manchester City following a £12m summer transfer - fell through after Benitez was unable to sell Alonso to raise the sufficient funds for the deal.

Well I have to admit, I know very little about this player, apart from it seems he is going to be a Liverpool player soon, so Welcome to Anfield.
Interesting that he is a Roma player since the age of 16, and they are the team he supports, but he has chosen to leave them!, can come to us.
Looks as if he played in the number 8 shirt for Roma, so I guess he will need to pick a different one. And once again it seems that every news artical the BBC print / publish about us has to mention the Gareth F. Barry saga, come on Auntie, get a life and let it go.
Was going to put this in the Transfer Board but it's seems the deal is done.

Yeh.

Rafa had this up his sleeve alright.


In Rafa We Trust.

Welcome Alberto.

Get yourself fit and make your name in the best club on Earth.

Get him fit and sell him to Madrid for 60 million euros next season ? 

Welcome AA hope your very nice man.

Seriously i think this lad will be more than a replacement for Xabi who i will miss, but i was door shuts another one opens.

You're right. I can't estimate, whether he will be better soon than Xabi. Xabi was one of my favourite player last time and I must oppress a tear. But I think, Aquilani will be playing in my heart. Good one, Rafa!

Welcome to Liverpool, Alberto

I've always liked Roma midfielders (him and De Rossi, especially the last one but oh well) and he looked great when I had the opportunity to watch him seasons ago.

I'm member in a forum that discuss a lot of the Italian Seria A and everybody there have the same opinion: he is top quality signing, great replacement for Alonso, and their only concern is his big number of injuries. Cant say Im happy with the prospect of seeing him getting hurt many times, so lets hope it doesnt happen, cause we've signed a great player it seems.

Hoping we get David Villa then for a player with my initials

I guess we'll see how much Rafa thinks of your posting, if you're good enough he'll sign.

As I said before, I like the speed of this signing, Rafa clearly had everything in place for when Madrid finally paid up, it was done as quickly as possible.

Whilst I haven't seen him play, he seems quite highly rated, and with the players we already have, it will be interesting to see how he links up with some of the world's best.

Welcome AA.  I like this guy, lots of energy and passion.  Looks like a guy that likes to celebrate... What better to celebrate than a title and a few strikes along the way.

Im confident that we have signed a classy player. Swift and positive business from Rafa. AA is seemingly a player who is both creative and energetic. Perhaps an ideal player to play alongside Mascha or perhaps in the Gerrard role when needed. I hope his injury troubles are well and truly behind him and that we can get the best out of this lad. The Rafalution continues.. Welcome Aquilani YNWA   

Alberto Aquilani, what a class name. Looks like a stylish italian type too with the old bandana.

I too, am impressed at Rafa's speed. It's a breath of fresh air to seasons gone by. Had Parry been here, Aquilani wouldn't be here till deadline day.

And as I forgot to say in my earlier post:
Welcome, Alberto, to the greatest club in the world.

Welcome Alberto hope to bright things from him.

Welcome Alberto and well done Rafa, got a good price for Xabi by sticking to his guns and has a replacement within a day. From what little I've seen this player, he knows how to find the net,I look forward to his goal celebrations in front of the Kop.

Lads got a boss name!

Haven't really seen to much of him, but when I was Roma on championship manager he was awesome for me

Anyway, hopefully he will be able to offer us a more attacking threat than Xabi, and also do the same job when spreading the play.

Good luck Alberto. Let's hope we're not all in here in 12 month's time discussing how boss his name sounds!