Aquilani seeks Reds assurance

Pre-season training began for those players who were not involved internationally this northern summer, and with no interest from other sides the Italian, who has spent the last two seasons out on loan in Serie A, is expected back at Melwood.

AC Milan declined to take up its option to buy Aquilani after he failed to play the necessary number of matches to trigger his compulsory purchase.

New manager Brendan Rodgers will take time to assess all his available players but Aquilani's agent Franco Zavaglia would prefer to know quickly whether the midfielder, 28 on Saturday, has a future there.

"At the moment Aquilani is a Liverpool player and will certainly start pre-season training with them, then we'll see what happens," he told Tutto Mercato Web.

"The new manager will decide whether to keep him or not.

"I don't think he's coming back to Italy and he hasn't expressed any particular preference, but this time I hope Liverpool can tell us in time if he's not part of their plans so we can find him the right club."

Aquilani, who has two years remaining on his contract, has played just 28 matches for Liverpool as he arrived in August 2009 with injury problems which delayed his debut and then made it difficult to get into the team.

However, Zavaglia insists fitness issues are a thing of the past.

"Recently, apart from a slight ankle sprain, Aquilani has had no major fitness problems," he added.

"The real problems were when he had ankle surgery at Liverpool."