So Alberto Aquilani is going back to Italy. Liverpool manager Roy Hodgson has confirmed that the Italian midfielder is set for a loan spell, presumably for the entire season, to get his match sharpness back and “protect the value of our player”.
While seemingly being a good move for the Italian – giants Juventus are the latest club to be linked with a move for him – where does it leave Liverpool in terms of midfield cover?
Just a few days ago I posted about the 25 man squad for the new season and the midfield was looking pretty rosy, with good cover for all areas. With such a big player leaving now, do we need to spend again to fill the gap? If we do, do we only need a loan player to cover the time that Aquilani is away for or do we buy a first teamer for now and the future?
Assuming Gerrard stays in the centre of midfield, our quartet there is Gerrard, Mascherano, Lucas and Poulsen. Joe Cole playing further upfield does not seem to have any cover there now that Aquilani is leaving, unless Dani Pacheco is going to get a seriously increased amount of game time this season.
In my opinion we will certainly need someone new to come in and offer cover and challenge for the first team – none of the midfield four above, other than Gerrard, have a real knack of getting in the box and putting the ball away on a regular basis, something which I was hoping Aquilani would improve for us in a big way this term.
Van der Vaart of Real Madrid has again been linked with a move to us this week, and he is one such player who can score and create goals, with a good range of passing and who is also a very good set piece taker.
Ola Toivonen can also operate in that role and has been mentioned as having been watched by Roy and Sammy Lee over the past week.
Just for another angle, one other player I would like to see in that role is Keisuke Honda of CSKA Moscow – supposedly looking for a transfer away from Russia and would certainly have the attributes to play behind a striker for us, as well as being a useful player slightly wider.
Roy clearly has some big decisions to make but in my mind there must be already somebody lined up, as we would not let a £20m midfield man go without being reasonably assured of being able to cover for him, especially now as Cole is suspended for three matches and Aquilani would have been the assumed replacement for him.
Not long to go before the transfer window shuts now – looks like being a busy ten days or so for the likes of Christian Purslow and Roy Hodgson to make sure our squad is filled with competition in all areas.
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Arda Turan and Van der Vaart are the best out there to replace Alberto.i would prefer Arda for many reasons,he is younger,more pace and can play in many positions.Right,left midfield,center and attacking midfield or even supporting striker.
@reds, so dirk kuyt is liverpool’s tevez? only without the skill, the creativity, the tenacity, the abilty to beat players oh…and the goals! yeah the likeness is uncanny!
This deal is not what it seems. Aquilani did not cost £20m. At the time of the transfer the Roma Chairman outlined the details of the deal which was £5m up front with the remainder made up of hefty appearance related payments. By hardly playing him for the first two years of his contract and loaning him out thereby picking up a loan fee and reducing the wage bill, Liverpool could end up making a sizeable profit if Juventus decide to bid for him at the end of the loan.
Roy don’t want Aqua cos he’s no good, injury prone, doesn’t fit with his plans, is not happy being on the bench(so wants to leave to get 1st team footy) and we wouldn’t get a decent amount of cash for him. In order to recoup some of the $20m Roy will give him a chance to proove himself in a less competitive league. If he flops we get the same poor amount he is worth now. If he does well, then we got some of the wasted $20m back! Kuyt out… well that would be unexpected, but Roy won’t let him go without making sure there is a worthwhile replacement. As for Roy’s other transfer dealings… wait and see before judging him.
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Letting Aquilani go is a huge mistake. Consider this, Gerrard’s best possition is behind the striker. Which leaves us with Lucas (much better than Poulsen will ever be). I watch Italian football and i can tell you he was average at best(i hope it was a year long blip and he will be amazing for us, really!! i do). Mascherano, who is likely to leave and Jay….dear God. Our midfield will be worse than last season. ohhh, and Joe Cole has set the world alight in the last two games! If his name was a foreign one, the fleet street would have written him off as cheap floop already. Not to mention his injury record.
In short, out of the top 4 teams, we have the worse midfield.
I am willing to give uncle Woy a chance but from the number of average players linked..such as konchesky!!! i fear this is going to give us all another misserable season. And i am a possitive person. I keep telling myself that Woy will buy another striker, and a creative midfield player.
weve got a gud youngster in maboo give him the chance as he has bags of pace and he is ready 4 the prem better than babel in my opinion
aqua was never a regular first team player I don’t think loaning him out is going to make much difference. our squad is not falling apart. still. we need a left back (anybody, really I don’t care at this point if it’s koschensky or capdevilla we just need someone) and a striker/center forward, hopefully the promising swede roy keeps eyeing. when cole comes back maybe roy will use him in his best position: winger. if we lose kuyt that would not be too bad, he’s pretty much at the prime of his career I can’t see roy squeezing much more from him. better sell him now on the high and get a good price for him than see a dip production, loss of confidence or something like that. then again, if he stays red for life it would be honorable.
Aqua is not the player i use to know in ROMA, Let him go on loan where he can play regular football and regain his strength,playing ability and skills…I totally agree with Roy because he cant get regular football under his belt in Liverpool.
Aqua will be a good sqaud player, i would keep him. Was he worth 20 mil? Definately not, but Roy will have to cleanup Rafa`s mistakes. I`tll take time we all need to be patient,one thing Roy seems to have brought 2 the team is unity again. We have quality within the ranks so give the younger guys a chance but the Jury`s still out on certain players some of them dont seem to be good enough. Look forward forget the past lets move on, YANKS GO NOW.
The news that Aquilani may be loaned out is very concerning. A lot of plaudits have gone to Joe Cole but lets face facts. Joe Cole could not dislodge Chelsea players in his preferred position and in the last 2 games we improved when Cole was red carded or in the second half when he played more out wide. He is obviously a down grade on when Gerrard played that role or the last few games when Aquilani swapped positions with Gerrard. It should be noted that when Torres came on he had to player deeper than normal looking for the ball and then was no positional inter change as he does with Gerrard.When Babel was on, he was for the most part isolated with Cole in the hole not coming forward to support as often as he should. He may improve with time but I think he has to grasp the fact that playing that position, he is expected to get a minimum 10 goals which he did in 07/08 season but his most prolific season was 2 years b4 in scoring 11 playing in Chelsea title winning season.
Maybe Hodgson thinks he can get van der Vaart, he finished last season well in Real, playing sometimes insted of Alonso but with him in the team too.
He is definitly passer of the ball Liverpool can use to replace Aquillani, or at least something Aquillani came to do in the first place.
About Keisuke Honda, he seems like an exelent addition, in my opinion anyway, but expensive addition too.
Not Aquillani replacment but can let Hodgson play Gerrard in center midfield rather than just behind Torres.
He is far more reliable than Cole and could sell a lot of Liverpool’s shirts.
Thing that worries me the most is how can Liverpool fill this gap if they are unable to get van der Vaar at a low price, Honda even more expensive with no money from Aquillani’s loan deal, left only a dreadfull posability of geting a “barrgain” on Trezeguet.