On my daily trawl through Liverpool’s official website, I came across Liverpool’s First Team squad list. New signing Alexander Doni has been given the number 32 shirt but by far the most interesting ones are for Alberto Aquilani and Emiliano Insua. Aquilani has been given the number 98 and Insua the number 99 shirt.
You could read this development in one of two ways. The first being that as they have been given squad numbers, unlike Philipp Degen, Nabil El Zhar and Milan Jovanovic, they are part of Kenny Dalglish’s first team plans. Why otherwise give them a squad number at all if they weren’t going to play some part in next season’s campaign?
The other way of looking at it though is that the Reds are uncertain where the future of both player’s lie. Although the numbers 98 and 99 can be used as squad numbers, they are most commonly used outside of England. The Premier League normally use shirt numbers between 1 and 49, with very few first team players use 50 to 99. For this reason it could be assumed they have been given temporary squad numbers just in case they don’t move onto to pasture’s new.
Certainly you could read too much into such things and there hasn’t really been any indication from the club either way about their futures at the club. Both Aquilani and Insua have been linked with moves away but no concrete offers for the players have been made in this transfer window as of yet.
Aquilani’s agent Franco Zavaglia seems to suggest that his client is one day he is leaving and the next he is staying, and Aqua’s future seems to be more up in the air than ever, with Fiorentina seemingly interested in the player to replace outgoing playmaker Riccardo Montolivo but not prepared to put the money in place for either a transfer or Aqua’s sizeable wages.
Just had to check for myself and it’s true.
Aquilani 98, Insua 99.
It would seem that these are temporary numbers, although whether it means they will be staying or going…. who knows. If either player ends up staying I’m sure they’ll be given a more appropriate number.
Isn’t it weird that no player ever gets given 69 as their squad number?!! I’m sure that would be a big seller.
go ahead captain obvious
LFCTV gave Aquilani and Insua thoe numbers so their team graphics didnt have two blank spaces on it during the friendly games, as they are the two without official numbers. They took those numbers away during the week, and I suspect they put them back on today in anticiparion of tomorrow’s game. I wouldn’t read too much in to it, although I do hope Insua stays.
Aquaman has to stay as nobody in the Liverpool team move the ball as quick as he does.
Why is everyone buzzing off “Aquaman” he wasn’t good enough in his first season and he done OK in serie A which isn’t a patch on the EPL.
It’s funny how some people are getting carried away by his pre-season performances!!!
Even Ngog’s looked good in pre-season…
Bin him off whilst we can still get 10 million +
Aqua to stay he was amazing agaist the malaysia xi the best on pitch after charlie Adam
Aquilani would be getting the No 10 .