Liverpool’s 26 year old midfielder Alberto Aquilani is still enjoying the resurgence in his career at Juventus and once again has urged his loan club to shell out the cash to make the deal permanent. The summer loan to the Italian club saw the insertion of a €16M (£13.5M) buy-out clause.
With new owners at the helm assessing the value of Liverpool’s squad, and with the player not in the current manager’s plans, Liverpool would be willing to tie up a deal in January . The club would be prepared to reduce the fee if a deal can be done in the early period of the transfer window.
Aquilani, who topped the Premier League’s goal assist charts for the second half of last season, has been rejuvenated in Italy since overcoming the ankle injury that restricted him to just 18 Premier League appearances last season.
“I hope to convince the directors of Juventus to buy me from Liverpool. At Juve I would like to open a new era with the team.
“Sixteen million euros is a lot, but they can negotiate.
“Juve was a huge opportunity for me, I could not lose it. Leaving Italy was not easy, I faced many life changes.”
Aquilani was also asked a tongue-in-cheek question about which player from Anfield he would bring to the Stadio Olimpico.
“What former Liverpool team-mate would I bring to Juventus? I wouldn’t want to offend some of my friends, but from Liverpool I would take Glen Johnson.”
A note on Aquilani at LFC
Despite the media criticism of Aquilani his Liverpool performances from last season stand up very well.
Although only the 14th most used player over the season he provided the 2nd highest number of assists after Gerrard, and provided them far more often. Aquilani (a goal or assist every 146 mins played) – Gerrard (a goal or assist every 162 mins). When you consider that Gerrard was the reds penalty taker, plus nearly always played in front of Alberto it is clear that Liverpool may have made a mistake loaning out Aquilani and paying £4.5M for Poulsen.