Saturday, the 28th of July 2012 - Liverpool skipper Steven Gerrard has revealed his excitement about the return of midfielder Lucas Leiva who has been confirmed to be part of Liverpool’s squad for the 2012-2013 season after returning from a long injury spell.
The 25 year old signed to Liverpool in 2007 but had not shown great promise until last season when he was unfortunately sidelined by an injury to his cruciate ligament.
Some pundits have linked Liverpool’s struggle for consistency in the second half of last season to the Brazilian’s absence and team captain Steven Gerrard is inclined to agree with them;
"It was a big factor, because when he got the injury he was probably our best player, form-wise," said Gerrard.
"He was playing superbly well, and he plays that position in the team where he does the ugly work, the work you don't really like to do: breaking up the play, protecting the back four, and when we lose the ball and teams counter-attack, he stops a lot of goals.”
"It's great to have him back. He's a great person; he's great for the squad."
Gerrard also has no doubt that the Brazilian can once again endear himself to the Liverpool fans;
"You've got to come through the lows, and it was certainly a low for Lucas when the fans weren't giving him the backing," Gerrard added.
"All the players stuck with him because you could see it in training and in parts of his game that he was a young lad who was always going to come good.
"Credit to him - he rolled his sleeves up, he worked hard, he hit the gym and got himself stronger physically and it's turned around for him."
The Kenyan DAILY POST
