Lucas Leiva’s Liverpool’s career is set to be over as reports from Italian media outlet Corriere Dello Sport claim that the player is open to be reunited with former manager Rafael Benitez at Napoli. The Brazilian claimed, “If you were to get an interesting offer for me and for the club, it would definitely consider.”
With Emre Can joining the club in the summer and Brendan Rodger’s fondness for Joe Allen and Steven Gerrard’s deeper role, it surely signals the end of Lucas’ career at Merseyside as he would hardly get a chance to grace the pitch in the 4-3-3 setup employed by the manager.
Lucas had earlier posted a picture in his Instagram account showing light at the end of a tunnel, giving vent to his frustration with English media outlet Independent also claiming that the player might be well headed toward the exit gate at the club.
Lucas had earlier joined Liverpool from Gremio for a paltry sum of £5m in 2007 and had also signed a long term contract after a flourishing season under Kenny Dalglish. He was the centre of ridicule of Liverpool fans early in his career but it was Benitez who claimed that fans would one day get to know what the player will become. Lucas then became Liverpool’s first choice holding midfielder, sitting in front of the back four and protecting the defense with all his might.
However, recent and frequent injuries have stopped his growth as a player and it now seems he might well be calling off his affair with the Reds.
Napoli would rightly suit teh player as Benitez would certainly get the better out of him, having worked with him earlier and the 4-2-3-1 system would also help the player in securing more gametime on the pitch. With Gokhan Inler and Jorginho and now Jonathan De Guzman, Lucas would hardly require time to fit in at Stadio Sao Paolo and who knows, he might be back at his very best.