Alberto Aquilani: Rafa’s £17 Million Mistake?

When Rafa Benitez splashed out £17 million on Roma sensation Alberto Aquilani, you could fully understand Liverpool supporters’ optimism that their Champions League winning coach had taken their team another giant step closer to winning their first league title in nearly twenty years.

A young, ambitious, Italian international possessing a top class passing range, an eye for goal and a fiercesome long-range shot, Aquilani seemed the perfect choice to fill the void left by the departed Xabi Alonso.

Nearly half a season has passed since Aquilani signed his 5-year contract at Anfield and the Italian has thus far failed to impress. Unable to break into the squad on a regular basis let alone fill a starting midfield role, Aquilani has amassed a mere three club appearances since his summer transfer: a 77th minute introduction against Arsenal in the Carling Cup, an 82nd minute cameo against Birmingham and a laughable injury time 1 minute and 25 second run-around against Debrecen. That amounts to a jaw-dropping £500K for every 30 seconds Aquilani is on the field of play.

Granted much of the Italian’s absence from the team has been down to a long-term ankle injury (which begs the question how he passed his medical in the first place), despite Aquilani being in full fitness since Liverpool’s encounter with Manchester City two weeks ago and his side’s continued dismal run of results, Rafa Benitez has mysteriously refused to turn to his star summer signing for quick relief.

So how do you explain Benitez’s reluctance to rely on Roma’s former ‘Il Principino’? While we hope our predictions are wide of the mark, our cheeky bet is that following a return to fitness, Benitez finally got a good look at Aquilani in close quarters and realized that the lad wasn’t actually good enough. Fearful that football fans and pundits would immediately pick up on the fact and lambaste his £17 million mistake, Benitez decided to conceal Aquilani’s inadequacies behind a veil of false fitness question marks.

If rumors emanating from Liverpool’s Melwood training ground are anything to go by, Rafa Benitez will be serving up a cool dose of irony at against Fiorentina on Wednesday. In a match that holds no competitive edge for either side, with La Viola heading into the knockout stage and the Reds debuting next in the Europa League, it seems rather coincidental that Alberto Aquilani will finally be available to shine from the start.

Even Aquilani can't figure out why he's not been playing

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