Steven Gerrard has no doubts Liverpool teammate Alberto Aquilani will live up to his huge price-tag.

And while his captain doesn't want to get carried away, he does believe that Aquilani is good enough to fill the boots of the sorely-missed Xabi Alonso.

"It's going to take Alberto a while to get up to speed, with his injury problems, but the boy is a player, there's no two ways about it," Gerrard told ZOO magazine.

"He sees a pass, he's on the same wavelength and he can dictate the tempo of a game. I don't want to tempt fate, but he's very similar to Xabi."