This former Liverpool failure has excelled as a coach in his home country.
The 38-year-old Italian has won five trophies in just three years with Fiorentina’s U19 team, including the most recent Super Cup.
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That’s more than he managed during his active career.
But Reds fans don’t look back on his Premier League career favorably.
After all, he only played 28 times over two seasons on our shores before being dumped by Roy Hodgson.
The midfielder established a pedigree in 2009 as one of Serie A’s best players.
This prompted Liverpool to pay Roma a whopping £20m transfer fee for his services.
After three disastrous years in England, the 38-cap Italian star enjoyed loan spells at Juventus and Milan before making a permanent move to Fiorentina on a free transfer.
The deal is recognized as one of the club’s worst deals in modern times.
But who is the man who once had long hair and now has a stylized beard?
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None other than Alberto Aquilani.
Rafa Benítez brought him to the club in 2009, where he occasionally impressed under the Spaniards.
Most memorable was when Aquilani scored in the Europa League semi-final against Atlético Madrid.
But Akhilani’s days came to an end when ex-England boss Hodgson arrived at Anfield.
The now retired manager preferred Joe Cole for his position, having only named him twice in the 2010-11 season.
Aquilani has previously revealed that he regrets being seen as a failure at Liverpool.
“I had a big contract at Liverpool,” he told the Liverpool Echo.
“Maybe next year I would have been left without playing.
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“Some players have expensive contracts and they are just running around the training pitch, but for me it was not good. It tells us”
“Then Milan came in and didn’t pay me much. No problem. I’m going because I want to play. They remember me as a bad player, which is frustrating.
“They spent a lot of money and I didn’t do much. It’s frustrating, but that’s the reality and I can’t do anything about it.”
