Lucas Leiva Signs Contract Extension With Liverpool

Liverpool FC have announced that midfielder Lucas Leiva, 24, has signed a long-term contract extension with the club which will keep him at Anfield for the foreseeable future. The Brazilian international had signed for Liverpool from Grêmio for £5M in 2007, and despite having some initial difficulty settling into the Premier League has now emerged from the shadow of Xabi Alonso and become one of the club’s most influential players.

Lucas was adamant that he wanted to stay at Liverpool past the end of his original contract, and the club were more than happy to keep one of the top defensively-minded midfielders in the league. When both sides want a deal to happen, it doesn’t take much to make it work, although the extension apparently took a few months to negotiate. Liverpool’s Director of Football Damien Comolli gushed about Lucas in a statement on the club’s official website: