Lucas promises to be back to his best
Liverpool midfielder Lucas Leiva stated that he has been training hard so as to play at the same level that he did last season.
By ESPNSTAR.com staff
The Brazilian midfielder was sidelined for the second half of the season with an injury to his anterior cruciate ligament and he missed the Reds' Carling Cup win as well as the poor run-in till the end of the season that saw Kenny Dalglish lose his managerial spot.
Prior to the injury, Lucas produced the form of his Liverpool career and fans are eager to see him back in action for the club in the coming season. The Merseyside club had lost just twice from 15 games whenever Lucas had been part of the starting XI before he suffered the injury in a Carling Cup quarter-final victory over Chelsea.
Currently, the Liverpool squad are preparing for their pre-season tour of North America where they will play Toronto FC, Roma and Tottenham. Lucas is unlikely to play a part in the fixtures as he still has to carry out some final exercise sessions in order to reach match fitness but the midfielder remains optimistic that he will be able to play at the same level as he did back in 2011.
"I'll be back at the same level that I was because I am working really hard to recover and the players that I have beside me will help me," Lucas was reported as saying on the club website.
"I just have to be patient again; much of my life in Liverpool has been like that.
"I'm still in the progress of my rehab. I've been training with the team for a few days.
"There is still a long way to go and a lot of work to be done but I am very happy to be able to train and I'm looking forward to the new season.
"I will be trying every week to recover and to progress. It's still four or five weeks until the start of the season and our Europa League games, so it's still too early to say if I will be ready but I'm looking forward to starting the season and being able to play.
I'm improving, I think that's the main thing now and hopefully I will be okay for the rest of the season.
"I'm looking forward to meeting the players coming back from the Euros and starting the season. I think everybody is really, really excited for the new season."
With a lot of uncertainty in the squad following the arrival of new manager Brendan Rodgers, the former Gremio player called for calm and stated that everyone would get their chance to impress and stake their claim for a place in the first team.
"I think everyone will have a chance to prove themselves."
"We have a new manager so I think everyone will try to impress him and try to be on the team but the most important thing is to build a strong squad because we have a lot of games during the season.
"The players are really happy with the way we are training and the sessions."
Rodgers has stated recently that he's close to acquiring an "exciting" new signing with reports in the British media indicating that it is likely Roma's Fabio Borini who will soon be arriving at Anfield.
The 21-year-old had previously been on the Chelsea youth team and had been coached by the ex-Swansea manager while he was serving as a coach there.