07 August 2023 , 09:03
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Former Liverpool midfielder Alberto Aquilani has opened up about his time at Anfield, having been branded one of the club's worst ever signings by former teammate Jamie Carragher.
Aquilani joined Liverpool from Roma in 2009 for a fee of around £20m following Xabi Alonso's £30m switch to Real Madrid. However, the Italian arrived at Anfield injured and made just nine Premier League starts as Liverpool finished a disappointing seventh and manager Rafa Benitez was axed.
Aquilani was then shipped out on loan to Juventus and AC Milan, before making a permanent move to Florentina in 2012. Carragher later named Aquilani as one of the three worst signings Liverpool made during his time at the club, alongside El Hadji Diouf and Mario Balotelli.
Speaking to the Athletic in 2020, he added: "It was just a complete and utter mess. It was a panic signing. Xabi was going and there was that sense of, 'We have to get someone in'. But we signed someone who hadn't played for months and was months away from being fit again.
"He was injured when he arrived and there was pressure on the medical staff to get him back quick. It soon became clear it would take longer than the club had initially put out there. That then caused problems for the medical staff. It was a terrible decision all-round to bring him in."
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Carragher said he did feel "sorry" for Aquilani as he was "put in a position he shouldn't have been" and the Italian has now responded to his comments. "We didn't have too many conversations," Aquilani told the Liverpool Echo. "I've seen sometimes he's spoken about me and it's not been very good but I don't like to do this. He was a great player."
Aquilani also admitted it was disappointing that he was never given another chance to prove himself at Liverpool after that first season. "First season I was injured and it was my first season out of Italy, but now I have another season," he added. "You have to know, when you go to a new team, maybe you need one year more.
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"For me the year was not too bad. It was not too bad because the situation was bad. The reality is the time I lost is too much but when I was there, the feeling with the club, with the players, with the coach was good so okay, next season will be good. But what happened? Rafa was gone and in came Roy Hodgson. In came a new sporting director, Damien Comolli, and obviously they wanted to bring in their players. I was there, I was contracted but I was not their player.
"This is football. You have to make the right decisions and you have to believe. And I believed I could be good there but it wasn't like this. One year is not too much. What I don't like is that it was too short. Too short a time at the club, too short the time on the pitch. My time in games, it had to be more. That was probably the problem.
"A lot of people think they spent too much money and never played me so I was a flop. They are right. It's right. But a lot of things happened behind that."