To Hope Tomorrow Never Comes

By: chris | August 5th, 2009

I expect this to go through, and yet I have absolutely no worldly idea how Alberto Aquilani can possibly pass a medical right now. Or ever.

So while we wait for the officially official word, let’s look at this from every single possible positive and rational angle, as we have no need to delve into the negatives of selling a Roman as gifted as Alberto Aquilani.

Alberto Aquilani is injured. A LOT. His league games read 14, 21, 13 in the last three years. And he’s no longer “a talent” – he’s 25 in a game which caters to the young. And that’s…€500,000 per league game in transfer fee. That’s A LOT.
However, it was always going to take one of two things to determine whether he’s injury prone or it’s something else entirely: a move to a new club or a new coach at Roma.

Liverpool FC have weighed in with their theory. I happen to concur – the evidence throughout the squad is simply too abundant to ignore. But only time will tell, and I’ll happily admit I was wrong should he move Merseyside and break down more often than an emotionally unstable stripper.
Luciano Spalletti plays his favorites. Alberto Aquilani is not one of them.
Regardless of how you feel about the Chilean dwarf, Spal loves him and Spal makes the decisions. As long as David is healthy, David plays. End of.
Central midfield is stacked and you pluck from your excess to plug a weakness.
Unless you recall last year when Filipe, Cicinho, Marco Cassetti and Rosella’s uncle-in-law found themselves not only playing, but starting in central midfield.
£20m is A LOT of money. €24m is equally A LOT of money. That money can fill a lot of holes on a team which could use some holes filled. At the top, at the bottom – anywhere but the middle. And, quite frankly, if you take away his birthplace, he was the commodity which was the easiest to sell at the highest return.
Francesco? Please. Daniele? Ditto. Vucinic? Mirko has It. Whatever the fuck It is, you can’t buy…it. Mexes? The back line is the weakest link as it stands – take Philou away the wheels fall off entirely. And so then there was Alberto.
I realize he started more than his fair share of controversies. Failing to shake Spalletti’s hand last year, whether he saw it or not. The contract situation. Making fun of and ultimately brawling with Christian Panucci (despite its hilarity). Even quarreling with His Tottiness. The kid’s a fiery Roman through and through.
This is not always a good thing. Too many explosive elements in one place…
Again: €24m, or thereabouts, for a player in your deepest position who averages 42% games played – that’s played, not started – per league season. Take away the name, the birthplace, the floppy hair and it’s a no-brainer.

***

I see all the rational reasons, and yet I ignore them. This is Roma. Emotional, passionate, irrational. We love not because we want to, not because it’s the smart thing to do, but because we must. And this is a dagger directly into our emotional, passionate and irrational hearts.