Jamie Carragher believes that Rafael Benitez made a mistake by signing Alberto Aquilani to replace Xabi Alonso.
He said that the Italian player was not good enough to replace a player of Alonso’s quality and that he believes Benitez made a mistake by signing him.
The former England international who is now working as a pundit said that Rafael Benitez was under pressure to sign a replacement for Xabi Alonso and made a mistake by signing Aquilani. He said that when the player arrived in 2009, he was already injured and that he only managed to play in October 2009.
He said that this is one of the biggest mistake made by Rafael Benitez. He agrees that no one could prevent Xabi Alonso from moving to Real Madrid at the end of the 2008 season, but Rafael Benitez made a mistake by signing an inadequate replacement.
For Jamie Carragher, Alberto Aquilani was never a good player to replace Xabi Alonso or even play for Liverpool. He believed this is what made Liverpool weaker and prevented them from competing for trophies.
Indeed Aquilani only managed to play 28 games during his three and a half season with Liverpool before being allowed to leave on loan in order to recover his form.
Carragher said that at that time Xabi, Gerrard, Torres and himself formed a great relationship on the pitch and this allowed them to move the ball quickly in order to hurt the opposing team. However Aquilani failed to perform in this tactic when he replaced Xabi Alonso, and as a result, the team began to suffer on the pitch.
Jamie Carragher said that one of the biggest mistakes of Rafael Benitez was to sign Alberto Aquilani at that time. He believes that they were other players available at that time but the manager made the wrong choice.