Liverpool‘s final Premier League game of the season, away to Stoke City, will be the final appearance for several of the club’s longest-serving players.

This will, of course, be Steven Gerrard‘s final appearance for Liverpool after 17 years at the club, while also out-of-contract players Glen Johnson, Kolo Toure and Brad Jones are expected to follow the captain out of the club this summer.

Then there are a host of other players whose futures are in doubt; the non-goalscoring trio of Rickie Lambert, Fabio Borini and Mario Balotelli, plus midfielder Lucas Leiva.

Lucas was heavily linked with a move away in January, with Inter Milan among the reported suitors, per ESPN.

Reports then suggested the 28-year-old was open to a move away from the club he joined in 2007 for £5 million.

Eventually Brendan Rodgers saw sense and kept Lucas at the club, with the Brazilian having become a key part of the Reds resurgence over the winter months. Liverpool’s best form coincided with Lucas’ re-integration into the side and their dips in form since have been while Lucas has been missing.

The former Gremio man missed the FA Cup semi-final against Aston Villa having picked up an injury in the days before the game in training, Liverpool’s midfield were subsequently overrun by Fabian Delph, Tom Cleverley and Jack Grealish at Wembley. How things may have been different had Lucas been available.

Alas, Lucas is again linked with a move away this summer though, with David Anderson of the Mirror even claiming that Rodgers “prefers Joe Allen in the midfield holding role”.

If that didn’t set alarm bells ringing among Liverpool supporters, then Anderson’s claim that “The Anfield boss feels he would have enough central midfield options in [James] Milner, Allen, Jordan Henderson and Emre Can if Lucas went” certainly would.

Of course, we can’t take Anderson’s words as gospel, but if that is indeed what Rodgers is thinking, Liverpool fans should be worried.

 

Holding-Midfield Need

Liverpool need a solid, combative, dynamic holding midfielder. Steven Gerrard was deployed as the deep-lying playmaker for much of the first half of the season before Rodgers finally put that to an end after the miserable 3-1 defeat at Crystal Palace in November—although, the boss has since stuck Gerrard back there for recent games, unable to accommodate him anywhere else when lining up in a 4-3-3 shape.

That aforementioned FA Cup semi-final showed the need for such a player, as expertly analysed by Karl Matchett for This Is Anfield. Matchett identified how easily Villa exploited Gerrard’s lack of pace, surmising that “Pace and power from deep has been an Achilles of Liverpool’s for too long, and Villa seem to be able to exploit that with regularity.”

Almost entirely under Rodgers’ reign at Anfield, Liverpool have struggled with powerful players either in attack or midfield, often found to be overrun too easily. They lack know-how and muscle.

What the Reds need is a player happy to work laterally in front of the defence, shielding the centre-backs and allowing the full-backs to get forward. We’re talking about players like Sergio Busquets at Barcelona, Nemanja Matic at Chelsea and, previously, Javier Mascherano at Liverpool.

Perhaps Rodgers sees Emre Can as the player to perform this role, but that would make his use of him as a right-back for much of the past six weeks even more baffling. Surely, with the season over, this would have been the perfect opportunity to test whether the German can fill that role and ready him for it next season? It’s just another of the baffling decisions made by the Northern Irishman this season.

 

Lucas

With regards to Lucas, the answer is simple: If Liverpool sign a player of the aforementioned qualities, then the Reds should cash in while he retains value, but should they fail to sign such a player, they must keep Lucas around.

Lucas isn’t the answer, certainly not long-term, but he has shown that he is far more equipped than anyone else in the Liverpool squad to perform the role of the holding/defensive midfielder.

If Rodgers is going to keep him at the club and reduce him to another season as a bit-part player, that would be harsh on the player.

Lucas has been a solid servant to the club—closing in on 200 league appearances, having been signed for just £5 million. A solid player, but nothing spectacular. If you are extremely harsh, you could say he typifies the lowering of standards and expectations at Anfield since the loss of Mascherano and Xabi Alonso.

But right now Liverpool are not a club awash with players of such a standard and with losing experienced pros such as Gerrard, Johnson and possibly Toure this summer, they could benefit from having Lucas around as an elder statesman. He’s clearly a player who understands the club and its values and therefore is useful to have around the training ground day-to-day.

Selling Lucas without a replacement would be foolish, but signing a player to replace him would be sensible.

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