Lucas Leiva is looking forward to seeing Liverpool’s new signings in action on the pre-season tour, which begins in earnest next week with a game against the Thai All-Star team on Tuesday.
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The Reds fly out to the Far East tomorrow, with five new signings among a 30-man squad. Adam Bogdan, Joe Gomez, Nathaniel Clyne, James Milner and Danny Ings are all scheduled to make the trip, although Roberto Firmino has not been included as enjoys an extended break following his participation in the Copa America.
Lucas expects all of the new additions to get a great welcome from the Liverpool fans during the trip, regardless of which country the games are being played in.
Speaking to our official website, he said: “We still have a few days to go but over there they will have an idea about what Liverpool is about. They know a lot but when you travel so far away from Liverpool and get that reception they will realise how big this club is and as I said hopefully they will settle very quickly.
“It just makes you realise how big the club is in terms of the amount of fans and anywhere in the world you go you get a good reception. This tour is always good because we can speak with people that don’t have a chance to come to Liverpool to watch games and it will be a great opportunity for them.”
The midfielder is also expecting big things from his fellow countryman, who became our second most expensive signing of all time when he joined us from Hoffenheim last month.
“Of course we lost a lot of important players but the players that are coming, they will try to not replace them but try to adapt to our squad and perform the way they did at their previous club,” he added.
“That’s why they are here and we will make everything possible for them to adapt very well. In my case with Firmino, I have been doing this for many years now with the new players, Brazilians especially, coming into the country and the club and trying just to help them to settle quickly.
“Hopefully, if they can perform as soon as possible, it will be better for us.”
Lucas knows the upcoming campaign is likely to be an important one for him as well. The 28-year-old missed much of our last campaign due to injury and knows he’s going to have to fight hard to retake his place. His attempts to force his way into Brendan Rodgers’ plans will begin next week during the tour.