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.
Follow us on twitter @live4Liverpool
Live4Liverpool is recruiting columnists. For further info contact the site editor at editor@live4liverpool.com
Why when there are other positions that need to be filled with quality do we find Roy buying someone they dont need.
Having a player of the value of Aqua on loan when all they are buying is cheapies this is ludicrous what the hell is going on?
let aquilani go on loan with the idea that if he gets fit ans STAYS FIT, then at the end of jan, we see what he is like and if fit we have him back for the end of year push, on top of that if he is injuried all the time then flog him at the end of the season, its a win win situation…
we need a frontman, however goes, we need a left back and a creative left sided player. if kuyt goes we need another squad player on top of that, liverpool summer in the market is yet again slow, crap and 2 steps forward 3 steps back,,, its just crap how the club do the deals… we need more quality and thats the end of the matter
Seems like a mad one.
bak 2 the same shout of wud rather spend on a frwd an keep aqua???
Hope there is no repeat of the end of last seasons transfer window when we did not get what we needed because of the lack of dosh!
Totally agree daboy! I watched the game last night and was incredibly down beat by the end of it. Liverpool were shockingly bad and for the life of me I can’t see how this season is going to be any different to last. Everything bad under Benitez was still there for everyone to see: no understanding, can’t keep the ball and no creativity!
I feel that Aqua should be given a chance to shine, he clearly has talent and could be a really good attacking force!
wouldn’t go just as far as ASH but i see his point, i do think it will take a little time to get all rafa’s concepts out of their minds e.g. if you’ve had zonal marking drummed into you for 5 yrs then its understandable that you’ll need a little time to get used to man marking however i do trust roy to get his tactics across and i believe we will see a marked improvement on last season
I agree, it is concerning though Roy must have an ace to play here, let’s wait & see….
how do you replace a clockwork mouse ?
roy has passed the first test, standing up to the sports scientists by playing torres, he’s a good manager
If Aquaman goes out on load to Juventus that’ll be the last we see of him, shame as he was never given a chance to show what he has but at the same time never looked comfortable in a PL game.
As for Kuyt, mixed feelings on that one he runs all day and has the heart of a lion and has put away his share of crucial goals in the past, but has the first touch of an elephant and for someone who plays on the right there must be better options out there.
Just hope Roy doesn’t get suckered into accepting a swap deal and he already has someone lined up………Turan maybe??
well it seems to me that aqua is going on loan because roy has enough cover in midfield, not too little.
I think he will include jay spearing more in his set up, releasing lucas to get forward more and provide back up to Gerrard.
In theory you would have poulsen, (maybe) mascherano and spearing as defensive mids with gerrard and lucas doing the going forward from midfield.
O’course you then have joe cole and dani pacheco as the creators with torres, babel and n’gog up top and jova and maxi doing the wide thing.
besides that I think you are forgetting aqua is supposed to be a ball playing midfielder in the mold of xabi alonso, so I don’t think he would have gotten forward that much anyway.
We also need to up our homegrown players to keep up maximum squad strength so I doubt (i hope) that roy would bring in any more foreigners if he can help it.
Roy you are making a BIG mistake. Aquilani is twice the player lucas and pulson is. Cole is overrated too. Alberto is a fantastic player very skill and can give some killer passes to the striker. Roy need to wake. Mash want to leave why not let him go rather than to keep an unhappy player. The guy don’t even get a chance I know he is good cuz I’ve watched him in italy.
Only if we buy a cover for Gerrard,Roy is right to let Alberto go.If we bought Van der vaart,for example,i wouldnt mind if Roy gave on loan Alberto to Juve.i hope he knows that ,him and the board.Van der Vaart would be a good buy for Liverpool.but you dont find players in this position easily.it’s a position where every team has their best player and they wouldnt want to sell him.for example:lampard,xabi alonso,fabregas,sneijder,scholes,pirlo,…etc.i still hope that we buy someone else,at least.
Liverpool is my team but the squad isn’t good. Can’t believe roy is sending our second best attacking midfielder on loan. I agree with jeff cuz cole is so overrated aquilani should be playing in his role which is behind the striker. Now roy is going to let liverpool tevez go(kuyt), who is next to go Reina,Torres are stevie… Who is he going to put in the squad to cover the void alberto left? Spearing? this is a joke. King kenny should have being appointed manager.
To Stan if you think Roy Hodgson is smarter than the best sports scientists in the world you are sorely mistaken it says he is silly.
These people and their technology are part of the reason Australia shines in many sports.
kuyt is a hard working player we need the most this session but if we get good money we can replace him with turan about aqua loan him and use youngsters
it’s funny how we’re letting a 20 million player go out on loan. i don’t know what the hell is going on but things aren’t going at all well. if aquilani isn’t in roy’s plans then just sell him and use the money from the sale to invest in new players. it’s just ridiculous how we’re sending a 20 million player on loan.
Let Aquaman go and buy Honda yesterday.He’s miles better and takes wicked free kicks too.Plus shirt sales would pretty much take care of transfer and wages.It makes sense anyway you choose to look at it.
Don’t forget Roy has probably had 4-5 week with Aquilani in training and pre-season matches. I can only think he didn’t like what he saw, thus he’s happy to loan him out.
We do need someone new if Kuyt goes though, but Babel is right footed and may work playing in that position?
Oh, and unless Spearing El Zhar at least make the bench most weeks, there seems little point in keeping them. They’re not 18 anymore!
Aquilani out on loan – what a joke. At least we will only be competing on three fronts after next thursday so no need to keep quality in the squad.