Aquilani ahead of schedule

Aquilani joined the Reds in a £20million deal from Roma this summer, but is recovering from an ankle operation.

“Alberto is improving,” the Reds boss told the club’s official website. “We were talking before about six to eight weeks and after a few weeks his ankle is much better but he will need time.

“He’s in the swimming pool and in the gym and working with the physios but he’s not jogging yet.

“We cannot put a date on things and it’s important to just see how he progresses.

“We are checking on him regularly and he had a scan in the past week which showed he is much better.

“It’s just a case of keeping an eye on him every day. When he does start to play everyone will see what a clever player he is.”