Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish stated yesterday that he wouldn’t mind Alberto Aquilani returning as a Liverpool player next season:
“When people talk about next season, I’m surprised they don’t give Alberto a mention. Everyone seems to have forgotten about him. I know he has done really well at Juventus this season. When the loan finishes at the end of the season, he reverts back to being a Liverpool player. Nothing is cast in stone and he could be coming back to play for Liverpool. He could be a valuable asset here next season. He’s still our player. He certainly didn’t have the best of luck last season. At times he did really well and at other times he didn’t do quite so well but you can say that about most players. What I do know is that he’s had a fantastic season at Juventus.”
Although Aqua stated today his desire to stay at Juve, there is still a possibility of the Italian returning to Anfield if Juventus cannot meet the £13.5million set out in the agreement made last summer. With a debate raging over whether we should keep Aquilani, or buy another deep-lying playmaker, I have underlined the strengths and weaknesses of three players who could do the job next season.
Charlie Adam – The Blackpool playmaker has had an excellent season with the Tangarines and will almost certainly leave Ian Holloway’s side at the end of the season. The Scottish international has an excellent delivery from set pieces and can be largely credited with Blackpool’s frequency from scoring from corners this season. In addition, Adam is a purposeful runner with the ball at feet, but he is most adept at defence splitting through balls, which has raised his profile to such an extent that three of England’s top six clubs in Manchester United, Spurs and Liverpool have all taken an interest.
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Adam is the obvious proven candidate,both the other two are suspect physically.
It has to be adams for me top player
I would go for Nuri Sahin…
Kenny will get the best out of Aquilani but the guy has already stated that he wants to stay at Juventus. Liverpool should, however, only sell him for the agreed price, nothing less. Defour is unproven and plays in the rubbish Belgian league so getting him would be a huge risk and even more so considering his injury problems. It’s clear that Kenny wants Adam but he should not be paying over the odds for a guy who didn’t know what the Premier League was 12 months ago. Liverpool should be targeting Marek Hamsik and James McCarthy instead.
Nah it’d be Steven Defour for me! Yes its a risk, but one we could regret not taking! Adam is okay, but he may be a one season wonder! I don’t think Aquilani will work in the PL regardless of the manager! I think Daglish’s words are just an indirect way of telling Juve, that he’s had a great season with you, so pay up or lose him!
Don’t really agree with the 3 choices given as I do not see any of them as being “deep-lying playmakers”. All 3 prefer to play more advanced. I feel Mohammed Sossokho, Yann MVila or Maluidi would be a better three to choose from.
I totally agree! We need a specialist defensive midfielder and the three you mentioned are that. I would probably go for Sossockho because he also brings the ball out well.
we should sell Aquilani for around £12m and buy Adam for £8m
steven defour without a doubt ,he is a box to box midfielder with loads of talent
and the fact that he is only 23 is a big bonus
I agree with ‘OldTimer’. Y. M’Vila, B. Matiudi or M. Cissokho offer more defensive capabilities with excellent ball passing capabilities. I would also put M. Veloso and Fernandinho of Shaktar in that group. S. Defour also belongs to that group so among those offerred here, so from the list, I will go for S. Defour.
LFC needs midfielders with defensive bias. If we get wingers in the summer, the advanced midfield positions are more than adequately covered.
Talking of wingers, I would like M. Camolli to spend sometime in Zagreb. I like Sammir very much and would love to see him in LFC. Also, Willan of Shaktar would be great. Please look East!!!
Your spot on about William of Shaktar. Cracking player!
adams and aquillani are attacking midfielders so i’d go for defour but also think banega would do a good job. i’d play gerrard like when we beat manu were he was deep lying but using his passing like alonso use to. i’d line up
gerrard defour/banga
meireles
suarez hazard/turan
carroll
javi martinez answer 2 alonso
he could indeed be the next alonso…
Aquilani for me. He has got over his injury problems, and now that he is no longer scared of being injured, he has added steel to his game. He has not said that he doesn’t want to be here, just that he would prefer to be in Italy. He has said that he has no objections to playing for us again. And it doesn’t cost anything to bring him back.
Adam is a good player who has an unfortunate habit of spending all his time hitting hollywood passes. Most of them fail but the odd one is spectacular. Not a team player. He is a poor tackler and both his reading of the game and workrate are mediocre.
Defour is a Manchester United fan and went on record saying that he wouldn’t like to play for us because it would ruin his United ‘dream’.
it’s Yann M’Vila for me as he reminds me a lot of what Mascherano did for us.if we manage to have a midfield quartet of M’Vila,Meireles,Lucas,Gerrard it’d be great.another quartet i’d love in the attack is having Carroll,Suarez,Kuyt,Sturridge.
My Dream Liverpool squad:
Reina
Johnson Carragher Cahill Baines
Young Gerrard M’Vila Bastos
Suarez Carroll
i know it’s an expensive dream in terms of money but in terms of quality it’s huge.and rotating gerrard,m’vila,lucas,meireles could be a title winning squad!!
YNWA
would love it if liverpool got hold of nico gaitan amasing player for left wing
Why the fuss? The Pool already have a world-beater DM in Agger. His defensive skills are unquestioned, his passing is great, his ball control is excellent and he loves to come forward. Also he has scored a few very impressive long range goals in the past. Given a little experience at the position, he could make people forget Mascherano and Makele.
He appears to be a little fragile physically, and playing at DM would expose him to less hammer.
This is a joke right? Convert our best CB into a DM when Lucas does a commendable job already? How about we convert Kuyt into a DM as well, he work-rate and stamina would be priceless in the midfield if he learned how to mark and tackle…
I agree that Agger has all the attributes to make an excellent defensive midfielder. However, I am afraid that Agger is too fragile for ANY position in the side and will have to go because of it. You never know if he will be able to play the next game due to injury – he misses huge chunks of the season. If we have a squad we at least want to be able to expect all of them to be available to play. Of course any player can pick up an injury now and again, but with Agger we know he is going to spend a lot of the season injured and unavailable. What use is that?
Agger will make it in DM position cos he’s good on the ball and moves forward effortlessly. since he’s injury prone, we can keep him as a back-up same with the legendry Aurelio. We can keep ’em both and rotate ’em as the game decides. YNWA
first,the best deep lying playmaker and defensive midfielder is xabi alonso…..i wonder if we could land him back but it is almost impossible to me….so we must find someone with his ability,a very creative one because we do not have something creative play on the pitch except for suarez…….maybe we should go and find someone like mark noble,lee cattermole,tom huddlestone,javi martinez,
The one player that trumps all three of those is Nuri Sahin at Dortmund. Only a year left on his contract, established Turkey international and the main reason why Dortmund are taking the wee out of everyone in Germany this year. Defour is injured more often than not. A bit of an arrogant guy as well. I’m from Belgium and the only people who would be sad to see the back of him are Standard fans and that has nothing to do with his personality. And I’m sure they’d get over him pretty quickly since he hardly ever plays ten consecutive matches anyway.
agreed ! this guy is very good, but he’s being courted by numerous clubs all over europe…
I think aqua Should go if juve can’t afford him we try a swap deal with inter for their young fb Santon I’m a big fan. As we’re talking about wingers I think Arda Turan should be at the top of our wishlist!!
yes u right arda turan world class and half the money a young will be and turan better player hope lfc make him the first buy of the summer a player not to be miss
The worry here is that the author thinks any of these players are deep-lying playmakers !!!
Surely he must have been to a match at least once in his life .
charlie should be our guy now that general is getting old.wat hppened to getting ever banega