There is always a tendency in the press to put two and two together to make five, and the latest rumour coming out of Italy about Liverpool midfielder Alberto Aquilani suggests that this maybe the case once again. It has been written in many of Italy’s sport columns that Aquilani will return to Italy after just one season with Liverpool after an unhappy short spell at the club. The frontrunners for his signature are touted as being Juventus as with a large transfer kitty and the requirement to rebuild their squad after failing to qualify for the Champions League, it has been suggested that they would be the most likely destination for the 25 year old. Tuttosport in Italy have gone one step further though, and it was a story replicated in the Daily Mail yesterday, that Alberto Aquilani could be bought as part of a swap deal for out of favour Brazilian midfielder Felipe Melo.
Two rumoured unhappy players, two clubs connected by the need to change and rebuild their squads, a swap deal must surely be on the cards if you go by this logic? But hold on for just a minute there, would Liverpool even want or need Felipe Melo? The Brazilian’s star has risen in recent seasons as he has made his way from Brazil to a quick stop off in Spain before arriving in Italy. After having 3 clubs in four seasons at the start of his career in Brazil, he was purchased by Real Mallorca in Spain. His time at the club was short lived though and after having two moderately successful years with Racing Santander, he was bought by newly promoted Almeria. The move would prove to be the making of Felipe Melo as he scored a very impressive seven goals in 34 league appearances.
The performances made him a much in demand figure all across Europe and Fiorentina beat some big rivals to the Brazilian’s signature for a reported price of €13million. It was a hefty price and one that took a lot of living up to but he impressed greatly for the Florence side and during the season he became a starter for Brazil under coach Dunga. So what’s the catch you may ask about getting Melo in exchange for Aquilani? Like many players coming out of Brazil at the moment, he is a defensive midfielder, not an attacking flair player like Aquilani. He is a strong combative midfielder who can score goals, but he is not a player who can spray around the ball and pass long diagonal balls with pin-point accuracy. He is a midfield enforcer rather than a playmaker, something we are not short of already. With Javier Mascherano and Lucas Leiva, do we really need to add a third defensive minded player to the mix? The priority has to be creative midfield players this summer and swapping Aquilani for Felipe Melo would be a step in the wrong direction. Unless this would be done in anticipation of Javier Mascherano leaving, I can’t see any real reason to consider such a deal.
On top of this we have to consider why Juventus want to offload him. He was purchased from Fiorentina last summer for a staggering €25million after the Old Lady had to trigger a buyout clause in a new contract which he had only signed days before. He has had an unhappy season with Juve though and has not settled at the club. He has even fallen out with the club’s fans after an incident in March which saw him having altercation with his own supporters during a 3-3 draw with Siena. He apologised to the fans shortly afterwards on the club’s website:
“I said something I shouldn’t have said. I’m sorry about my behaviour. I know every Juventus’ fan supports us, even if there’s a minority that sometimes whistles and criticises us during the match. My team-mates and I need to feel the whole stadium’s support. I wanted to ask people in the curved [vocal] sector [of the stadium] to support us, but a part of them were not doing so.”
Earlier on in the season, Felipe Melo was also controversially sent off in a match against Inter Milan when he appeared to elbow Mario Balotelli. He had started off his time at the club pretty well after scoring in a 3-1 win over AS Roma, but it was to be one of only three league goals he scored in the 29 appearances he has had the entire campaign. He was seen as one of the big underperformers as Juventus failed to achieve a Champions League spot after finishing seventh in the table. The swap for me would not be a good deal for the Reds.
Follow us on twitter @live4Liverpool
Live4Liverpool is recruiting columnists. For further info contact the site editor at editor@live4liverpool.com
rather have the young argie, eva from valencia, rather have van der vaart, for the sort of money your taking about, ive watched this guy and while he is ok, yet again another over hyped player for brazil, just because he pulls on that brazil top desnt mena to say he that good, i would rather we stayed well clear. be the way lfc do not need another midfeilder, unless money grabbing mascherano does one.
silva has just signed for real madrid for around 28 mill, by the way!!! really dreaming of his name on back of my home top next year but then with the con men in chrage we cant even afford his flights to get him here never mind the wages?
yanks get the fcuk out….
Throughout the grand scheme of things you actually receive an A+ with regard to hard work. Exactly where you actually lost everybody was in the specifics. You know, as the maxim goes, the devil is in the details… And it could not be more true at this point. Having said that, let me say to you precisely what did deliver the results. Your authoring is certainly very powerful which is most likely the reason why I am taking an effort in order to comment. I do not make it a regular habit of doing that. Secondly, despite the fact that I can certainly see the leaps in reasoning you make, I am not confident of how you appear to unite your details which inturn make the conclusion. For right now I will subscribe to your point but hope in the future you link the dots better.