A statement from the club added: “Liverpool concluded their discussions with Roma once the sale of Xabi Alonso to Real Madrid was finally agreed.”

It has emerged the Aquilani deal had been slated for several weeks, but Liverpool could only proceed once the transfer of Alonso had gone through.

And Benitez added: “We wanted to keep him (Alonso) but as soon as he told us that he wanted to leave we started working, looking for players and trying to do the best deal for the club.

“It has been too long, since May, that he told us he wanted to leave and after the official transfer request we were working very hard.

“The first idea was to keep him, and the second one was to find the best price and the best replacement for us.”

Aquilani would be Liverpool’s second major incoming of the summer following the £16m signing of Glen Johnson from Portsmouth.

And Benitez is expected to continue his spending with another centre-back the priority and Portsmouth’s Sylvain Distin a chief target.

Aquilani is regarded as a more attack-minded midfielder than Alonso, and his consistently impressive performances at Roma have seen him become a regular in the national side.

The midfielder has netted 15 goals in 147 appearances for Roma since making his debut for the Serie A side as an 18-year-old in May 2003.

Such was his promise as a youngster, Aquilani was pursued by both Chelsea and Arsenal but instead opted to sign professional terms with his boyhood team Roma.

Aquilani actually only signed a new four-year deal with Roma in May but is now poised to become only the second Italian international to play for Liverpool.