Nice quotes from Rafa. Was a very good free transfer, without a doubt. How we could do with landing a free of that quality this summer.
Which makes it even more frustrating the club couldn't have reached a compromise, say a 1-year extension/rolling contract. Injury-prone or not, you don't let go of a player of Aurelio's quality so lightly. But then it happened last summer with Hyypia so not surprised.
Fair enough if we had another quality senior LB on the books (say if Dossena had turned out to be great buy) or even if he's looking for another 2 or 3-year contract (still wonder why he was never offered something last summer as a reward for a great season, like others were) but as far as we know, only a PAYP one was offered, the same that was offered Kewell.
Best of luck wherever he goes, and he finally gets the Brazil cap he's long deserved.