Alberto Aquilani

Roma

In 2001, when Aquilani was 17, Chelsea and Arsenal offered him contracts, but he declined the offers to continue playing for his youth club Roma. He made his debut in Serie A at the age of 18 on 10 May 2002 under then manager Fabio Capello against Torino. Roma won that game 3–1. He was loaned to Serie B club Triestina for the 2003–04 season to gain first team experience. Returning to Roma in the 2004–05 season, Aquilani broke into the starting XI. On 31 March 2005, he signed a new five-year contract with Roma, which worth €1.1 million, €1.25M, €1.48M, €1.61M and €1.79M respectively from 2005 to 2010 in gross annually. In the 2005–06 season, he scored the second goal in the derby victory on 26 February 2006, a victory in which Roma broke the record for the most consecutive wins in Serie A, a record later broken by Inter Milan in the 2006–07 season. In the following season, Aquilani was expected to be one of Roma's best players. He was given the number 8 shirt previously worn by Matteo Ferrari. Unfortunately, an injury forced him out of the game for several months. Aquilani returned to the field in May 2007 and featured in three games towards the end of the season, including the last two. He scored two long range goals in the first two matches of the 2007–08 season against Palermo and Siena. Although he was injured in October 2007, he returned to the squad in January 2008. Aquilani was injured again on 22 October 2008 against Chelsea. He returned to action on 11…

At youth level, Aquilani was capped for Italy at 2001 UEFA European Under-16 Championship qualifying. He won 2003 UEFA European Under-19 Championship with Italy and scored one goal, later being named the tournament's best player. He was then promoted to the U21 team and took part in 2006 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualifying, but missed out on the final tournament due to injury. Aquilani made his senior debut on 15 November 2006 in a 1–1 friendly against Turkey. He played as a regular during the 2007 U-21 Championship held in the Netherlands, scoring two goals, and being named in the "UEFA Team of the Tournament". Italy finished 5th and qualified for the 2008 Olympics. He was named to the 23-man roster for Euro 2008, his first major international tournament. He came on as a sub in Italy's third game of the tournament, which was a 2–0 victory over France. He started Italy's quarter-final match against Spain due to the suspensions of Andrea Pirlo and Gennaro Gattuso. Italy lost 4–2 in a penalty shootout after a goalless draw after extra time. Aquilani scored his first goal for Italy during the 2010 World Cup qualification match against Montenegro on 15 October 2008, a tally he doubled later in the same match. In spite of this, the national team manager Marcello Lippi opted not to include him in the 23-man Italian squad for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. In Italy's UEFA Euro 2012 qualification campaign, Aquilani played his first game in a 1–0 away win against Slovenia on 25…

Aquilani was a modern, hard-working and versatile playmaker who was capable of functioning in a number of midfield roles, from a holding role as a deep-lying playmaker, to a more advanced trequartista or attacking midfielder. His favoured position was that of an offensive-minded central midfielder or box-to-box midfielder, a position known as the "mezz'ala" role, in Italy, which enabled him to make late attacking runs from behind into the penalty area or create space for team-mates with his movement, despite his lack of notable pace or physicality; he was also used on the wing, or even as a wing-back on occasion. With the Italy national team, he was also deployed in a different role, as a false-attacking midfielder on occasion, under manager Cesare Prandelli. Throughout his career, Aquilani drew praise for his vision, creativity, technique, quick incisive passing, which enabled him to dictate the tempo of his team's plays in midfield, and was also noted for his energy and long-range shooting ability with either foot. Due to his eye for goal, height, and heading accuracy, he was also effective in the air, and was also accurate from set-pieces, which enabled him to contribute to his team's offensive play with additional goals from midfield. Despite his talent in his youth, he was often injury prone throughout his career, which limited his playing time and affected his fitness and consistency, and as a result, he has been accused by some in the sport of not living up to his…

On 11 July 2019, Aquilani was announced as the head coach of Fiorentina's under-18 team, remaining in that position until December, when he joined the first team staff as an assistant to Giuseppe Iachini. On 19 July 2020, he was appointed as head coach of the Primavera squad. On 26 August 2020, the side successfully defended the Coppa Italia Primavera title, beating Hellas Verona 1–0 in the final. In 2023, he left Fiorentina's youth system to embark on a career as a first team head coach, taking over at Serie B club Pisa. After guiding Pisa to a mid-table place in the league table, Aquilani parted ways with the club in June 2024. After a season without a job, in June 2025, Aquilani was appointed in charge of Serie B club Catanzaro, replacing Fabio Caserta.