Aquilani

[navbasi]

I think I read that we'd agreed a buying option of around 13.5m Euros - which did seem foolhardy to me. Hopefully we'll also have the option to retain him.

 

I don't have a source on this but working from memory of what was said at the time.

 

Yep.. Spot on..

 

Liverpool midfielder Alberto Aquilani has completed his season-long loan move to Juventus, the Italian club have announced.

 

The Serie A outfit say have also acquired an option to buy the former Roma player for £13.1million after the Reds confirmed at the weekend that the player was travelling to Turin after a deal in principle had been agreed.

Aquilani was made available for loan by Liverpool after struggling to make an impact since his £17million move from Roma last summer.

 

Aquilani seals Juve move | Football

[t1971]

Alberto Aquilani has revealed that Inter Milan were interested in signing him from Liverpool over the summer.

 

The Italian midfielder returned to his homeland in August after a difficult first year at Anfield, joining Juventus on a season-long loan.

 

He has since declared that he hopes to earn a permanent deal with the Bianconeri, having been a peripheral figure with Liverpool.

 

Rafa Benitez brought him to Merseyside but seemed to find it difficult to integrate him into the Reds side, with fitness problems hampering the 26-year-old's progress.

 

Aquilani has now claimed that Benitez was keen to take him to Inter after leaving Liverpool for the Giuseppe Meazza, although there was never an official offer.

 

He told Mediaset Premium: "Inter wanted me this summer, they tried to get me. There was something, but nothing more."

Good memories

 

Aquilani maintains that he looks back with fondness at his time with Liverpool, and has backed Benitez to be successful in his new role.

 

"Last season with Liverpool has been positive for me, despite the injury, although it is not easy to adapt to a different style of football," he explained.

 

"I had a good relationship with the fans and I would have remained with pleasure, but some things convinced me to change and I'm very happy to have arrived at Juventus.

 

"I have good memories of Benitez. He allowed me to go to an important club like Liverpool.

 

"He's a very important coach who will do very well at Inter. To replace Mourinho would be difficult for anyone but Benitez is tough and the right man for Inter."

[Trucker Paddy]

He told Mediaset Premium: "Inter wanted me this summer, they tried to get me. There was something, but nothing more."

 

What the fuck does that mean?

[navbasi]

He told Mediaset Premium: "Inter wanted me this summer, they tried to get me. There was something, but nothing more."

 

What the fuck does that mean?

 

My Italian is great but I think he's trying to say that Maureen is a cunt..

[Ezekiel 25:17]

He's fucking shite.

[Guest TK-421]

I think I read that we'd agreed a buying option of around 13.5m Euros - which did seem foolhardy to me. Hopefully we'll also have the option to retain him.

 

I'm not sure how that could work. If they have an option and excercise it then that would appear to be that. We can't turn around and say "we've got an option too", can we?

[Woo]

Yeah, that seems weird. I'm sure they have the option to buy him for €16m, though. If I remember correctly, the player himself came out and said that the clubs have an agreement, and that he wanted to earn the move back home permanently. However, the manager then said that he hopes that Aquilani gets plenty of games and then when he comes back next year, we we get the Aquilani who we'd hoped to see when we signed him originally. So who knows?

[gaz181]

Aren't Juve playing Man City tonight? I might watch it after our game, see how Aquilani gets on. I assume he's eligible to play?

[Woo]

Aren't Juve playing Man City tonight? I might watch it after our game, see how Aquilani gets on. I assume he's eligible to play?

 

Nope, he's cup-tied until the knockout rounds I believe.

[TheResonator]

I'm not sure how that could work. If they have an option and excercise it then that would appear to be that. We can't turn around and say "we've got an option too", can we?

 

I'll be honest, I have absolutely no idea how the whole things works, but I wonder whether there might be some clause by which we could influence what happens. It would be mind-bogglingly stupid of our board to effectively agree to sell a player for £7.5mill less than we paid for him after an injury-hit season in which he made bit-part appearances.

 

I get that maybe he isn't in the manager's plans or whatever, but he arrived at us as a player with massive potential who we got on the cheap because he'd been out for a long time. I can't think why we'd rush to sell him for so much less than we paid when he's just gotten fit and there's every chance he could go on to have a massive season at Juve.

 

Get him off the wage bill if he's not in the manager's immediate plans, sure, but why would we agree an option-to-buy at a certain fee? How does that put us at an advantage? If he goes over there and he's shocking, they won't buy him; if he goes over there and he's amazing, they get him at a knock-down fee.

 

Did we really get that badly shafted that we can't really win out of the deal? Or did we just presume there was no way that he'd put in a shift that would exceed the 13.5m valuation?

[Guest TK-421]

I'll be honest, I have absolutely no idea how the whole things works, but I wonder whether there might be some clause by which we could influence what happens. It would be mind-bogglingly stupid of our board to effectively agree to sell a player for £7.5mill less than we paid for him after an injury-hit season in which he made bit-part appearances.

 

I get that maybe he isn't in the manager's plans or whatever, but he arrived at us as a player with massive potential who we got on the cheap because he'd been out for a long time. I can't think why we'd rush to sell him for so much less than we paid when he's just gotten fit and there's every chance he could go on to have a massive season at Juve.

 

Get him off the wage bill if he's not in the manager's immediate plans, sure, but why would we agree an option-to-buy at a certain fee? How does that put us at an advantage? If he goes over there and he's shocking, they won't buy him; if he goes over there and he's amazing, they get him at a knock-down fee.

 

Did we really get that badly shafted that we can't really win out of the deal? Or did we just presume there was no way that he'd put in a shift that would exceed the 13.5m valuation?

 

My guess is that we were desperate to get him off the wage bill and that Juve wouldn't take him unless we agreed to grant the option as part of the deal.

 

I think our board would be happy to take the hit if Juve decide to take up the option.

[TheResonator]

My guess is that we were desperate to get him off the wage bill and that Juve wouldn't take him unless we agreed to grant the option as part of the deal.

 

I think our board would be happy to take the hit if Juve decide to take up the option.

 

It seems like that could well have been the case, but if so I think we've been totally held to ransom over the whole thing.

[gaz181]

Nope, he's cup-tied until the knockout rounds I believe.

 

Totally forgot that he played for us in the qualifying round. Ah well.

[Woo]

Also, if we do sell him to Juve then it would only be a €4m loss, which is what, £3.3m? Not much all things considered.

[navbasi]

I thought he looked good against Inter at the weekend. Looked really sharp.

[Jeffrey Bing]

He always looks good.

 

A couple of his first few games for us were a bit avo but really, in the majority he showed a real spark in the games and set up quite a few and even polished of a couple.

 

He was never right but still showed great talent for us, absolutely baffled at the decision to let him leave.

 

A massive disappointment to not see even see a 3/4 of a season of that brilliant one touch quick passing that I seen late last season, massive fuck up by the management and they will only have themselves to blame at the end of their show.

[t1971]

He always looks good.

 

A couple of his first few games for us were a bit avo but really, in the majority he showed a real spark in the games and set up quite a few and even polished of a couple.

 

He was never right but still showed great talent for us, absolutely baffled at the decision to let him leave.

 

A massive disappointment to not see even see a 3/4 of a season of that brilliant one touch quick passing that I seen late last season, massive fuck up by the management and they will only have themselves to blame at the end of their show.

 

We could really do with someone creative in midfield now. It was ridiculous to send him out on loan. We needed to keep every option we had here this year.

[redmachine23]

We've had a succession of managers who value brute force over guile and skill. shame, he could have been a player.

Gone, wont return, we move on.

[Trucker Paddy]

I bet Juve won't take up the option on him for £15m, we'll end up getting less than half we paid

[Ted]

He always looks good.

 

A couple of his first few games for us were a bit avo but really, in the majority he showed a real spark in the games and set up quite a few and even polished of a couple.

 

He was never right but still showed great talent for us, absolutely baffled at the decision to let him leave.

 

A massive disappointment to not see even see a 3/4 of a season of that brilliant one touch quick passing that I seen late last season, massive fuck up by the management and they will only have themselves to blame at the end of their show.

 

Not nearly as baffled as a lot of people are with the decision to even bring him here in the first place.

[Mark M]

Not nearly as baffled as a lot of people are with the decision to even bring him here in the first place.

exactly, Id ont get why a lot of people are banging on about him saying we miss him. He was a bad signing by Rafa. He is injury prone and when Rafa brought him he realised he was too lightweight to play CM and made a comment after xmas that it was between him and gerrard to play behind torres to justify not playing him. The guy was not suited for the english league and we will be lucky to get back half what we spent on him.

[Unrighteous]

Aquilani, all things considered (how desperately we needed a good signing to slot in for Alonso), was the worst signing that Liverpool has made in the last decade... at least.

[Skidfingers McGonical]

Aquilani, all things considered (how desperately we needed a good signing to slot in for Alonso), was the worst signing that Liverpool has made in the last decade... at least.

 

Pah!

 

I see your Aquilani (who I rate by the way) and raise you Josemi, Salif Diao, Cheyrou & Le Tallec.

 

*rapidly gathers all chips and does a runner*

[hamstrung]

Diouf eclipses him for me. He was shit, expensive and an utter cunt. Albert seems a nice boy, just wickle bit sickly.

[Dracco]

I would have him back in a heartbeat.

 

Midfield trio of Gerrard, Aquilani and Meilreles interchanging positions would be awesome. With Cole, Kuyt ( Jovanovic, or Babel) on the wings they could do something.

 

The worst decision from Roy so far ( and he made a few of them already :drool: )