Liverpool boss Rafael Benitez is waiting patiently for the right moment until he gives summer signing Alberto Aquilani his full debut in Liverpool colours.
"The player is fit," declared Benitez to the Liverpool Daily Post.
"He is training. Match fitness is something you can improve by playing games, so why have I not been playing him? Because the games are so close that if you put a player on the pitch who is not physically ready [then] maybe he cannot settle down in time.
Benitez has limited Aquilani's contributions, even from the bench given the nature of Liverpool's recent encounters whereby the team has rarely enjoyed a comfortable winning margin.
"If it is 1-0 like it was the other day and they are attacking a bit more and you changed Lucas, Gerrard or Mascherano to play him, maybe you are making a mistake because you will lose the control.
"If we were winning 3-0 in the first half of every game he would be playing because it would be easier for him to settle down.
The ever-defiant Benitez maintains he would still sign the Italian even if he knew the player would take three months to fully recover from injury.
He added: "I’d still have signed him if I’d known that. We were bringing in a player with quality for five years. If he had been fully fit maybe he could have cost £25-30m.
Aquilani is available for selection for this week's Merseyside derby, but the Spanish tactician is insistent on wrapping his player in cotton wool; he isn't keen on the fragile Italian taking part in the tenacious Everton-Liverpool encounter just yet.
He continued: "The derby game is a physical one and everyone knows that when you are not fully fit they can be difficult to manage so you have to think about what’s best for the player and the best for the team.
"I was talking with Alberto and he understands. He is clever and he knows that he hasn’t played for months so he has to be ready and fully fit if he is to be able to play at the level that he can play in England. He knows that it is a matter of time."
Given Aquilani's rather slow start to life at Anfield, Rafa still feels the need to remind Kopites of his summer acquisition's qualities, and that he is the perfect player to fill Xabi Alonso's boots.
"He has quality, he is very clever, his touch is very good, he has mobility, he is dynamic and the final pass is very good," he said.
"We were looking for someone with these qualities.
He concluded: "He is a different kind of player to the ones that we have now because he can pass and move, pass and move, support and he can give the final pass."
"The player is fit," declared Benitez to the Liverpool Daily Post.
"He is training. Match fitness is something you can improve by playing games, so why have I not been playing him? Because the games are so close that if you put a player on the pitch who is not physically ready [then] maybe he cannot settle down in time.
Benitez has limited Aquilani's contributions, even from the bench given the nature of Liverpool's recent encounters whereby the team has rarely enjoyed a comfortable winning margin.
"If it is 1-0 like it was the other day and they are attacking a bit more and you changed Lucas, Gerrard or Mascherano to play him, maybe you are making a mistake because you will lose the control.
"If we were winning 3-0 in the first half of every game he would be playing because it would be easier for him to settle down.
The ever-defiant Benitez maintains he would still sign the Italian even if he knew the player would take three months to fully recover from injury.
He added: "I’d still have signed him if I’d known that. We were bringing in a player with quality for five years. If he had been fully fit maybe he could have cost £25-30m.
Aquilani is available for selection for this week's Merseyside derby, but the Spanish tactician is insistent on wrapping his player in cotton wool; he isn't keen on the fragile Italian taking part in the tenacious Everton-Liverpool encounter just yet.
He continued: "The derby game is a physical one and everyone knows that when you are not fully fit they can be difficult to manage so you have to think about what’s best for the player and the best for the team.
"I was talking with Alberto and he understands. He is clever and he knows that he hasn’t played for months so he has to be ready and fully fit if he is to be able to play at the level that he can play in England. He knows that it is a matter of time."
Given Aquilani's rather slow start to life at Anfield, Rafa still feels the need to remind Kopites of his summer acquisition's qualities, and that he is the perfect player to fill Xabi Alonso's boots.
"He has quality, he is very clever, his touch is very good, he has mobility, he is dynamic and the final pass is very good," he said.
"We were looking for someone with these qualities.
He concluded: "He is a different kind of player to the ones that we have now because he can pass and move, pass and move, support and he can give the final pass."
