If find it worrying that we're getting rid of techincally gifted footballers and bringing in players with little or no technical ability. If I had to choose between a midfield duo of Aquilani and Meireles and Henderson and Adam, I sure know which duo I'm picking.
We will not make progression with players like those in our squad. I like Henderson, but I don't think he has the mental ability to play at a club that wants to win things. He's good at Sunderland because that's the level he excels at, put him in a team where there is large expectations and he's stuck in no man's land.
It's unfortunate that it didn't work out for Aquilani, but the departures of technical gifted players like him and the arrival of British players is precisely why this club has fallen further and further into the realms of mediocrity and once a club becomes used to mediocrity, it's very hard to change the mentality, it's very hard to break away from that.