Liverpool’s Sad Treatment of Aquilani

Many fans argue that Aquilani has not got the passion for the club and wants to leave. Here is the answer to everyone.

To question his real passion for Liverpool after what he has been through would be a serious injustice. While he often talked about his desire of scoring in front of the Kop; Aquilani’s actions would speak louder than any words when he struck a brilliant goal from Benayoun’s ball versus Atletico Madrid in Europa League semis in 2010.

Momentarily stunned after his tie-leveling strike, he stumbled and looked back at Gerrard before tearing to the corner flag screaming his lungs out with the ecstatic Stevie G rushing to embrace him. The tears of joy that fell from Aquilani’s face as his team-mates celebrated with him will surely be remembered by the Kop. Such uncontrolled happiness is not borne of mere monetary hunger.

Returning to Liverpool this summer after a year during which his continuous refrain was that he would be happy to return to Anfield once his loan spell with Juventus completed, Aquilani has had to come face-to-face with the new owner of his jersey, Raul Meireles. For any footballer, losing a jersey number is a massive slap on his face.

Witnessing new signings Jordan Henderson and Charlie Adam being praised by club management and mind says that a manager always prefers his own signings. Both signings assigned squad numbers while Aquilani got whichever spare jersey is available can’t be pleasant for the man who swallowed his pride and publicly stated that he returned to Anfield “with great enthusiasm“.

Add hostile fans calling the “disloyal foreigner” to be shipped out into the picture, and you understand the difficulty he finds himself in.

The club’s pre-season form has been shaky, but the one constant has been the sheer class of Aquilani. The Little Prince adds so many arrows to the Liverpool quiver, and has arguably been the best player in every match thus far. Against Valarenga his value was confirmed when he instigated a comeback and saved Liverpool and brought KING some serious blushes. He was given mere 10 minutes on the field and still was the Man of the Match on the day.

Still Kennly Dalgish did not even mention his contribution at all. When he pulled the strings against Guangdong and the Malaysia XI, Dalglish and Steve Clarke instead singled out Charlie Adam for praise, who had reasonable games on both occasions, but came nowhere near matching Aquilani’s brilliance on the field. Again against Valarenga, not even a match-saving cameo can provoke appreciate public pat on the back from his boss.

If ever there was a blueprint to making a player feel completely unwelcome, Liverpool’s treatment of Aquilani would be it.

Kenny is a fantastic manager and a person but his snubbing of Aquilani is baffling. The Liverpool supporters are hungry to win after disappointing campaigns and Aquilani is believed to be a brilliant asset for the reds.

I am desperate for Aquilani to stay and so are many other fans. I hope he plays against Sunderland and shows his class. I want the fans to not just support him online but those living in Liverpool should come out for him. He wants to represent his nation at the Euros, I will not blame him if he wants to leave as after such shabby treatment no one gets very excited knowing he is unwanted. I have poured my heart out and now just hoping perhaps against hope that Aquilani will be a “red” next season.