Damien Comolli, Kenny Dalglish and Liverpool Football Club have today secured a massive signing for the present and future, by rewarding Lucas Pezzini Leiva with a new long term contract, which on the same basis as the contracts for Suarez and Carroll, will see him plying the Anfield turf for the foreseeable future.
Credit where it is due! Signed in the summer of 2007 by Rafa Benitez for Stg 5 million, the young Brazilian of Italian descent (he does have an Italian passport) has since flourished and benefitted from having the likes of Xabi Alonso, Xavier Mascherano and a certain Steven Gerrard as lecturers to refine his trade. Rafa, Roy and Kenny all saw promise and passion in the untypically blonde Brazilian, with the latter playing a fundamental role in assuring that player remains a Red, because Lucas, unlike others, wanted to remain a Red. He has not only become a first choice player for Liverpool, he has also became an fundamental part of the new Brazil selecao project which is doing away with the established champions and building its future on the up and coming stars, proof of this is the friendly played against Scotland last weekend.
A mouthful to those that deserve it! I can still remember the articles and comments that crucified Lucas Leiva every time the Reds had a woeful game. He was always the culprit, he was always the scapegoat, and he was called allsorts, shot him down mercilessly. Even recently when I incentivized comments through my articles on EOTK on what the Liverpool squad should look like next season, there were many of you that insisted Lucas Leiva should be sold! Now I never said I was an expert, and I will never claim to be infallible, but for those Liverpool supporters who continue to slag the young Brazilian off I say: get your facts right, for you know nothing about football!
Let’s face it! When you consider that this youngster left Brazil for Liverpool at age 20 (imagine both the ambience and culture change), came to play for one of the best Clubs in the world (which we still are and will remain to be), elbowed his way through the ranks of senior players, grafted game after game, and took in a massive amount of criticism in part from the press but mostly from the fans, this would have broken down the confidence of most….but not of Lucas Leiva.
Now with the player rightly rewarded with a new contract and embraced in the new Liverpool project; with his becoming an established International for the most prestigious national team on the planet….Brazil, and with Comolli and Dalglish both delighted at securing his stay, I really would like to know who will have the nerve or perhaps outright idiocy to come out and say, yet again, that he is not Liverpool material.
Will he have his off-game? Of course he will. Will he make mistakes? Bloody right, who doesn’t! But for those that were and continue to be skeptical about the lad, these should now put their bad vibes to rest, because Lucas Leiva is an important part of the new Henry, Comolli and Dalglish project and he will be gracing the lush turf of Anfield for a few more seasons to come. Anyone in the mood to contradict Kenny Dalglish?