Karan Shah evaluates Liverpools situation as Alonso makes an exit and in comes Aquilani.
After the big money signing of a certain Portuguese winger from Manchester United and also the signing of arguably one of the best midfielders from AC Milan Real Madrid’s transfer season had sure gone into overdrive mode. The last piece of transfer news saw Xabi Alonso of Liverpool going to Madrid with Alberto Aquilani switching over to Liverpool from Roma. Both midfielders, are currently at the peak of their game however there are some things which Liverpool will have to know about their new signing in comparison to Alonso.
As far as their position is concerned Alonso used to play as more of a deep lying playmaker with those trademark long balls to switch the side of play, with those occasional shots at goal from a distance. Comparatively, Aquilani has more offensive tendencies with those off the ball runs in the box and a strong positional sense, like all Italians. Liverpool already has Gerrard playing in a role similar to what Aquilani used to play at Roma so it will be interesting to see how Benitez will get the new formation.
Let’s look at their various attributes on the pitch. Alonso has an amazing passes completed rate something which Aquilani will have to improve considering he’s going to play in the BPL now, a League which is considered the toughest and the most competitive one to play in, in Europe. Set pieces are another aspect of the game that Aquilani will have to improve to match Alonso. Alonso’s set pieces have been far better than Aquilani’s and Rafa is sure to notice that in the coming days.
However one of the most important factors that concern the new signing is fitness. Aquilani has been a glass house when playing and he has a huge list of injuries in the years he has been at Roma. In fact when Benitez signed him he was already injured.
So his debut for the Kops is going to be delayed by a sweet two months at least! This problem is going to lead to another one that is gelling with the team. By the time Aquilani will be fit, quite a few number of games might be over for Liverpool and it will be a headache for the manager to change the playing XI and accommodate Aquilani into the squad.
Make no mistake though as he is one of the upcoming football players and overall it has been a good signing for Liverpool. Aquilani has quite a few years left to improve and only time will tell whether he will raise his game and reach the expectations which the Liverpool fans will have.
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