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Birthdate:
07.07.1984
Birthplace: Rome, Italy
Other clubs: Roma, Triestina (loan), Juventus (loan)
Bought from: Roma
Signed for LFC: £17100000 07.08.2009
International debut: 15.11.2006 vs Turkey
International caps: 11/2
Liverpool debut:
28.10.2009
Last appearance: 05.08.2010
Debut goal: 15.03.2010
Last goal: 29.04.2010
Contract expiry: 2014
LFC league games/goals: 18 / 1
Total LFC games/goals: 28 / 2
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Player Notes:
Twenty-five year old Aquilani arrived at Anfield early in August 2009 in the wake of Xabi Alonso's transfer to Real Madrid. The deal, as so many are, was 'subject to a successful medical'. Aquilani passed his medical and signed a five-year deal on the 7th of August. The medical was passed despite the young Italian not having played in a competitive match since the 11th of March because of injury, principally to the ankle area, which needed surgery and a long period of rehabilitation.
Aquilani was born in Rome and joined his home-town club AS Roma in 2002. Although he was given his debut by Fabio Capello in May 2003, later in the same year he was loaned to Serie B club Triestina and scored 4 goals in 40 League appearances for them before returning to Rome, where he began to make a big impact in Serie A. At the time of his move to Liverpool, Aquilani had made 102 Serie A appearances for the Romans, scoring five goals. He is more known for his range of passing than for scoring goals and if he has only half the ability that Alonso has, he should be a big success on Merseyside.
Aquilani soon came to the attention of his national coaches. He was a regular during the 2007 U-21 Championship held in Netherlands where he scored 2 goals and was named in the "UEFA Team of the Tournament". He was given his full international debut against Turkey in November, 2006. He was in the Italian squad that competed in the finals of the European championships during the summer of 2008. He made a brief substitute appearance when Italy beat France 2-0 in the final game of their group scraping through to the final 16. He was in the starting line-up vs. eventual European champions Spain due to Andrea Pirlo's suspension. The game finished 0-0, with Spain knocking Italy out 4-2 after penalties. By the time he signed for Liverpool, he had eleven full caps and had scored two goals, both coming in a World Cup Qualification victory against Montenegro in October 2008.
The Italian was given the number 4 shirt vacated by Sami Hyypia when he moved to Leverkusen in Germany, but had to wait patiently while his new colleagues made a stuttering start to the 2009-2010 campaign. Eventually, though, he was finally fit enough to be considered for a reserve match against Sunderland at the end of the third week in October and made a successful fifteen-minute appearance. Seven days after that reserve match against Sunderland Liverpool supporters finally saw Aquilani in a first-team match when he made a 15-minute substitute apopearance at Arsenal in the League cup. He impressed enough to be given two further matches as a substitute in November before finally making his long-awaited full debut at home to Fiorentina in December. After that he had to be satisfied with being more in the matchday squad than actually starting a game. But he did finally score his first Liverpool goal when Portsmouth visited Anfield in the middle of March. A second and more important goal also came at the Kop end in April as his precise finish gave the team the equaliser on aggregate against Atletico Madrid in the Europa League semi-final. He was substituted later in that match, something he had had to get used to. Considering he didn't play his first match until the end of October, a total of 18 Premier League and 8 cup appearances was probably as much as he could have expected given his injury situation at the time he arrived at the club. There isn't much doubt about his skill. It's possibly about whether he has the physique to stand up to the rigours of English football. A resounding fact is he has six assists to his name in the Premier League, ranked 20th-27th in the league, one below Gerrard's 7 assists, which is quite an accomplishment given the number of minutes he has played.
On 25th August 2010 Juventus announced on their official website the loan capture of Aquilani: "Aquilani is a Juventus player. Juventus Football Club announces that an agreement with Liverpool F.C. for the free temporary acquisition of the registration rights of the player Alberto Aquilani has been reached. The agreement also includes the option right, to be exercised at the end of 2010/2011 season, for the definitive acquisition by Juventus of the football player at the price of €16million, to be paid in three years." |
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