Leiva Lucas

A central midfield player who signed for Liverpool in July 2007.

Lucas is very much a box-to-box player who works extremely hard for the team and shows a high rate of successfully completed tackles. He was gradually eased in to the first team at Anfield, but over the last few seasons he has been a regular in the side, earning widespread praise for the way he has improved his game.

He was in excellent form for the Reds in 2010-11 when he was chosen as the club’s Player of the Year and continued to feature in the team in the opening months of 2011-12 before suffering a knee injury ion the Carling Cup quarter final against Chelsea which ruled him out for the remainder of the season.

Lucas began his career in Brazil with Gremio where he played in the team defeated by Boca Juniors in the final of the Copa Libertadores in June 2007 prior to his move to Anfield. He was a member of the Brazil team that won the South American U20 Championships in 2007 and gained a bronze medal at the Beijing Olympics.

He won his first full cap for Brazil in October 2006 and has added a number of further appearances since then.