“I have to say, I’ve only been in the job a short period of time and when I first arrived everyone told me how special Lucas was as a player and a character, and in reality he’s been even better than that when I’ve met him.
He is the ultimate professional and he is going to be a brilliant player for me in my career here at Liverpool and I’m looking forward to seeing him fully fit. I know every day of his life he is fighting hard to get there, and not only is he a top footballer but a great person.
“[The injury] was bitterly disappointing because I’ve got to say he’s been one of the players that [when] I’ve come in he was really excited about this way of working. He understands totally the ideas of what I’m trying to implement, so for him this was going to showcase his qualities even more. He’d worked his whole way through pre-season, he was absolutely brilliant and he’s gone over done all the hard miles, the hard graft, got himself fit, or nearly fit and then all of a sudden he pulls right fem up here.
“It was a big blow because he’s one of the disciples. I would say he understands totally what we’re doing; he’s been loving the work by all accounts and so to lose someone of that respect within the group as well is obviously difficult.
“How’s he doing at the moment? We’ve obviously kept in contact he’s been at home for a bit because he can’t do a great deal we’ve had people going round and giving him that little bit of work. He has good and bad days, because he’s had a long time out he’s worked hard to come back and now he’s out again. But the idea for him, what I’ve said to him, what I’ll do we’ll keep his spirits up.
“I’m going to use him to also go out and look at some games for me because he’s tactically very good, he’s someone I’ll get to go with my analyst and look at some games to make sure tactically he still stays in the game, because that’s important if you’ve three months out you think, (blows), you know.
