Roma open to Aquilani offers
442 Staff - Friday 17 July 2009, 13:48
Serie A outfit Roma have revealed that they are open to offers for midfielder Alberto Aquilani.
The 25-year-old - who has been linked with Arsenal in the past - has made more than 100 league appearances for the Stadio Olimpico outfit since making his debut in 2002, scoring nine times.
And with both Liverpool central midfielders, Xabi Alonso and Javier Mascherano, being strongly linked with Real Madrid and Barcelona respectively, Anfield boss Rafael Benitez was believed to be eyeing up the Italian, who has 11 caps for the Azzurri, as a replacement.
Despite Italian daily La Gazzetta dello Sport reporting that Benitez was weighing up an €18 million bid for the middle-man, Aquilani's agent Franco Zavaglia insisted the player was going no where, telling Romagiallorossa.com:
"Alberto to Liverpool? Lets not talk about stupid things.
"There is no point in talking about this as there is nothing true or concrete.
"The player has only recently renewed his deal and he is working hard to recover from injury and give his best to Roma."
However, Roma boss Luciano Spalletti has now revealed that the club could be persuaded to part company with the Italian for the right price.
"We need to be open and listen to any type of offers that are proposed to us," he said.
"We are not worried, we know what we need to do.
"There will probably be two or three transfer market deals done and I am convinced we will be able to work well."
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