Alberto Aquilani

Alberto Aquilani (Italian pronunciation: [alˈbɛrto akwiˈlaːni]; born 7 July 1984) is an Italian football manager and former player who is the manager of Serie A club Sassuolo. Mainly a central midfielder, he usually operated as a deep-lying playmaker but was also capable of playing as an attacking midfielder.

Aquilani began his career with Italian side Roma and, after a brief loan spell at Triestina, returned to the Serie A club where he became a regular in the Roma side during the 2005–06 season, earning the nickname "Il Principino" (The Little Prince), due to his resemblance to former Roma legend Giuseppe Giannini, both in terms of appearance and playing style, who was known as "Il Principe" (The Prince). During the following season, he suffered a thigh injury and was ruled out for several months. In 2007 and 2008 he won consecutive Coppa Italia titles with Roma, as well as the 2007 Supercoppa Italiana.

He moved to English club Liverpool for the start of the 2009–10 season but in August 2010, having received only limited playing time at Anfield due to injury, he returned to Italy and joined Juventus on loan until the end of the 2010–11 season. Aquilani returned to Liverpool at the end of the season as Juventus did not take up their purchase option. He went on loan again in 2011, playing for Italian club Milan for the 2011–12 season, and was subsequently sold to Fiorentina in 2012, where he remained until his transfer to Portuguese club Sporting CP in 2015; he returned to Italy in 2016, joining Pescara, and was later loaned to Sassuolo for the second half the season. In 2017, he joined Spanish club Las Palmas, but was released by the club at the end of the season. After a year without a club, he announced his retirement in 2019.

Internationally, Aquilani has represented Italy at various youth levels, while at senior level, he made his full international début in November 2006 in a 1–1 draw against Turkey. In total, he made 38 appearances for Italy between 2006 and 2014, scoring 5 goals, and also took part at Euro 2008, the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup (winning a bronze medal in the tournament), and the 2014 FIFA World Cup with the Italian senior team.

Roma

In 2001, when Aquilani was 17, Chelsea and Arsenal offered him contracts, but he declined the offers to continue playing for his youth club Roma.

He made his debut in Serie A at the age of 18 on 10 May 2002 under then manager Fabio Capello against Torino. Roma won that game 3–1. He was loaned to Serie B club Triestina for the 2003–04 season to gain first team experience.

Returning to Roma in the 2004–05 season, Aquilani broke into the starting XI. On 31 March 2005, he signed a new five-year contract with Roma, which worth €1.1 million, €1.25M, €1.48M, €1.61M and €1.79M respectively from 2005 to 2010 in gross annually. In the 2005–06 season, he scored the second goal in the derby victory on 26 February 2006, a victory in which Roma broke the record for the most consecutive wins in Serie A, a record later broken by Inter Milan in the 2006–07 season.

In the following season, Aquilani was expected to be one of Roma's best players. He was given the number 8 shirt previously worn by Matteo Ferrari. Unfortunately, an injury forced him out of the game for several months. Aquilani returned to the field in May 2007 and featured in three games towards the end of the season, including the last two.

He scored two long range goals in the first two matches of the 2007–08 season against Palermo and Siena. Although he was injured in October 2007, he returned to the squad in January 2008.

Aquilani was injured again on 22 October 2008 against Chelsea. He returned to action on 11 January 2009 against Milan but picked up another injury in February. Although he played against Arsenal as a last minute substitute on 11 March 2009, he did not play any part for the rest of the season.

On 26 May 2009, Aquilani signed a new contract with Roma until 2013, adding three more years to previous deal. He was offered an annual gross salary of €3.2 million for 2008–09 season; €3.6 million in 2009–10 season; €3.9 million in 2010–11 season and ultimately €4.2 million in the last two-year of the contract.