Former Brazilian midfielder Lucas Leiva joined Liverpool from Gremio in the summer of 2007 and was a defensive midfielder for 10 years until 2017.Hot on the pitch and mild-mannered off it, he remains a favorite of supporters, thanks in part to his loyalty to the club.
At Anfield, he also works with coach Jurgen Klopp, with whom he played for about 18 months when he took over in October 2015. In his first season, he was used in many games, but in his second season, 2016/17, he started more and more games in the middle of the season and was not treated as a regular in a team that was going through a transition.
With a further decrease in playing time expected in the following season, the player joined Lazio in the summer of 2017. Before leaving, he revealed that Klopp had tried to convince him to stay, but explained how he prioritized his time on the pitch.
“The difficult moments I had and I knocked on his door, I think our relationship got even closer.”
“Even if I was going to ask questions [about my playing time].”
“One thing that he told me once, he said, ‘Lucas, you can always come to my office but maybe I will say to you that you don’t want to listen.’”
“That’s fine. You just want to speak to a manager and they be honest with you, and Jürgen has always been honest with me.”
“After his first year, I had a chance to leave the club and I was considering [it] because I wanted to play, I wanted to have more game time.”
“He didn’t let me leave,”
“He said, ‘Lucas, I can’t promise you’re going to play but you have to stay because you can play as a centre-back, you can play midfield.”
“You are one of the older guys. You can help me a lot. But I want to try to convince you to see that as well.”
“It’s not that only when you are playing you are important. You are important when you don’t play as well.’”
“It’s funny because when I left and one day I was in Rome… and then I texted him.”
“I said, ‘Boss, I look back and there were a couple of moments when I was…’ I can’t say the words here! I was a stupid guy. I said, ‘I’m sorry for that because I realise now.’”
“He said, ‘Don’t worry, it’s normal, you guys want to play and I was a player.’
“Our relationship is great, and we still keep in touch.”
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