NEW Serie A blog! What now for the unwanted £20m man Aquilani?

Published 12:51 26/07/11

For the new season, MirrorFootball is teaming up with some of the blogosphere's best new writers to bring you even more great football reads every single day.

We'll be slowly introducing you to them over the coming weeks so that by the time the first ball of the 2011-12 season is kicked in anger, you'll be firm friends.

Today it's our new Serie A blogger, footballitaliano.co.uk 's Mina Rzouki, with her take on the week's big issues in Italy.

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Talented but unlucky? Or simply average? Alberto Aquilani has divided the critics ever since his time with Roma.

He was once rated so highly that Rafa Benitez paid £20million for his services, yet he now faces another summer of uncertainty as his current club don't seem to want him, and the ones that do can't afford him.

Ask any Juventus fan how they feel about the loss of Aquilani and you are likely to be met with a look of despair.

Aquilani's creative elegance and Felipe Melo’s brutish strength gelled as a formidable central midfield partnership that set Juve alight in the first half of the season.

Melo’s defensive security encouraged Aquilani to swiftly push forward with the ball at his feet to deliver incisive passes to a static striking duo who craved his ingenuity.

His ability to dominate the midfield virtually singlehandedly, in matches such as the one against Roma, coupled with his powerful shot, which he used to score a stunner against Lecce, meant he soon earned his place back in the national team.

Renowned for his creativity, Aquilani developed into a more complete midfielder under Luigi Del Neri as he improved his defensive game to provide assistance to Juve’s struggling back-line.

It is perhaps important to note that when Aquiman started playing for the Italian giants, they went from conceding seven goals in four games to conceding only three in their subsequent five matches.

Unfortunately for the Italian, the latter half of the season proved less fruitful.

Key injuries, an unbalanced squad and inconsistent performances from many of their star players saw Juventus plummet down the table after the new year.

Despite the Old Lady managing to bully Liverpool into lowering their asking price for Aquilani to a figure between €8m-€10m, Juventus still declined to sign him at the end of the season.

Del Neri paid the price for the disastrous end-of-season collapse and was replaced by former Siena boss Antonio Conte.

With a new coach comes new ideas and with the arrival of the god of all deep-lying midfielders - Andrea Pirlo - and with only domestic games on the agenda after Juve's failure to qualify for even the Europa League, Aquilani soon became a luxury they could not afford to keep on the bench.

So with Juventus out of the picture and with Liverpool having spent almost £50m on midfielders this summer, what now for the £20m Anfield misfit?

Unable to convince wantaway midfielder Riccardo Montolivo – who only managed three assists in 29 appearances - to sign a new contract, Fiorentina are seemingly the only club in Italy willing to offer Aquilani a home.

The player who managed twice the number of assists during his limited playing time at Liverpool now looks likely to reduce his salary and accept a move for the sake of staying in Italy.

Is he fated to be forever referred to as nothing but a luxury player?

Will he ever find a stable home that allows him to finally live up his potential?

Fiorentina will be hoping so.

Follow Mina Rzouki on Twitter @Minarzouki and at footballitaliano.co.uk and read last week's blog here: Can Roma's Spanish revolution succeed in Italy?