By Chris Wright
Bit of ‘breaking’ for you here. Liverpool have just confirmed that Brazilian defender Fabio Aurelio has turned down a new pay-as-you-play style deal and is to leave the club next week.
Due to his injury record, Liverpool were keen to to protect their interests by offering Aurelio a flexible deal based on appearances, but the 30-year-old has decided to seek a more secure contract elsewhere – thus ending his four-year stay at Anfield.
Speaking to the Liverpool Echo, manager Rafael Benitez had this to say;
“Fabio’s contract is nearly finished and he is going to leave us. We had been trying to work something out with regards an extension but it was a pity that we couldn’t.
He has given us absolutely fantastic service. The one problem we had with Fabio was that he suffered too many injuries and it was such a pity because he has great quality.”
Aurelio’s continued absence during the latter half of this season meant that Benitez had to rely heavily on 21-year-old Emiliano Insua to fill in at left-back and the young Argentinian defender was found wanting on occasions, before succumbing to a back injury himself late in the campaign;
“With Fabio being out so much, it meant that we had to use Insua more than we would have liked and that was not easy for him.
Fabio is a top professional, a great player and a really good lad. It has been a pleasure having him here and we really will miss him. You are talking about an amazing person who gave 100% all the time. We wish him all the best.”
Here’s a bonus clip of the cheeky devil at his best…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6bVyLFm9xI