da luck： In the early stages of Lucas Leiva’s career, it’s fair to say he wasn’t exactly every Liverpool fan’s favourite player at Anfield, even being booed by sections of his own fans during a clash against Fulham – a moment that he described as the “worst”.
da realsbet： But the man signed for just £6m from Gremio back in the summer of 2007, eventually proved his worth big-time on Mereyside, and more than vindicated the kind of faith showed in him by Rafa Benitez – the man who brought him to English football in the first place.
In fact, speaking after the confirmation of the move, Steven Gerrard waxed lyrical about what Lucas could bring to the table. He said: “From what I’ve seen of him so far he’s got everything you need in a Liverpool player; good touch, good passing and he’s also a good lad off the field. I expect him to be knocking on the door of the first team before too long and hopefully, in time, he can help us win many trophies.”
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And after that difficult start, there can be no question that Lucas established himself as a key part of the first-team squad at Anfield. Perhaps rather surprisingly, he ended up making a total of 346 appearances for the club – a total that puts him 47th in the all-time list for Liverpool, even above names like Kevin Keegan, Michael Owen and Didi Hamann.
When the midfielder eventually did depart Anfield to join Lazio in a £5m deal back in 2017, he was the Reds’ longest-serving player at the time. The exits of both Xabi Alonso and Javier Mascherano really paved the way for him to make his mark on Liverpool’s midfield, and he was even voted the Fans’ Player of the Year back in 2011.
Journalist Juliette Ferrington spoke glowingly of how the Brazilian really excelled during Kenny Dalglish’s time in charge. She said: “The Brazilian survived under five different managers and it was perhaps fitting that it was Kenny Dalglish who presented Leiva with a golden ’21’ – his squad number – on the last day of last season to mark his 10 years at the club.
“It was under Dalglish’s management the midfielder excelled. He refused to buckle under unforgiving pressure and worked hard to earn the respect of the crowd, answering his critics with endless effort and energy.”
He may not have started off as a fans favourite, but Lucas certainly turned things around by the end.
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