Italian footballer Alberto Aquilani has called quits to his professional playing career at the age of 34. The midfielder had been without a club following his release from Las Palmas 12 months ago and he has now eventually called time on his career to take up a different challenge outside of the playing field.

“After a period of reflection, I think the time has come for me to hang up the boots on that peg we all hate,” he was quoted as saying by Roma’s official website. “But the time comes for everyone. And now the time has come to follow new paths – different in their day-to-day aspects, but still new challenges in their own way. I took my time to decide the best option. But, despite the many offers that came in, I think the time has come to say ‘enough’.”

Aquilani was regarded as one of the best young prospects at Roma and he managed to make meaningful progress to seal the move to Liverpool in 2009. However, he could not make a name for himself at Anfield with the change in management and that meant that he had to spend time on loan with the likes of AC Milan and Juventus before securing the permanent move to Fiorentina three years later.

Since then, he has gone through a career without any major headline moments and the retirement was on the cards, considering he was out of work for the past 12 months. Meanwhile, Aquilani’s former club Roma are going through another summer rebuild and they have recently made a surprise decision with fan favourite Kostas Manolas making the switch to Napoli.

The Giallorossi have also gone through a complete reshuffle at the top with a new manager and sporting director at the helm and it remains to be seen whether they can make the push for the top four after missing out by a margin of three points last season.