Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez has hinted that Italian midfielder Alberto Aquilani will be ready for a first team start within the next couple of weeks.
The 25-year-old was signed by the Reds during the summer for around £17 million from Roma although an ankle injury has kept him sidelined for the first couple of months of the season.
Aquilani did, however, make his first team bow in the League Cup last week, coming on as a late substitute in the 2-1 defeat to Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium although a virus will keep the Italian international out of contention for this afternoon's encounter with Fulham.
Despite his latest injury setback, Benitez has suggested that the playmaking midfielder will be ready to start within the next two weeks which would see him line-up in the crucial game against Manchester City at Anfield next month.
"He [Aquilani] wants to play," the Reds boss told a group of assembled radio journalists, as quoted by the club's official website.
"We were talking about his match fitness and he was pushing us saying he wants to play.
"He has a really good mentality and he wants to impress. We have to decide and be careful with him. If he is okay then maybe in one or two weeks he can start."
The 25-year-old was signed by the Reds during the summer for around £17 million from Roma although an ankle injury has kept him sidelined for the first couple of months of the season.
Aquilani did, however, make his first team bow in the League Cup last week, coming on as a late substitute in the 2-1 defeat to Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium although a virus will keep the Italian international out of contention for this afternoon's encounter with Fulham.
Despite his latest injury setback, Benitez has suggested that the playmaking midfielder will be ready to start within the next two weeks which would see him line-up in the crucial game against Manchester City at Anfield next month.
"He [Aquilani] wants to play," the Reds boss told a group of assembled radio journalists, as quoted by the club's official website.
"We were talking about his match fitness and he was pushing us saying he wants to play.
"He has a really good mentality and he wants to impress. We have to decide and be careful with him. If he is okay then maybe in one or two weeks he can start."
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