Lucas Leiva is determined to come back stronger than ever after having his season ended by injury

Dec 2 2011 by David Prentice, Liverpool Echo

LUCAS LEIVA has vowed to come back stronger than ever, after scan results revealed that the Brazilian’s season has been wrecked by a cruciate knee ligament injury.

A stark two paragraph statement on Liverpool’s official website yesterday confirmed Reds’ fans worst fears.

“Liverpool FC said today a scan had confirmed an injury to the anterior cruciate ligament in Lucas Leiva's left knee,” it read.

“The Brazil international will undergo surgery and unfortunately be ruled out for the remainder of the current campaign.”

Lucas, who was enjoying the best spell of form of his Liverpool career, tweeted: “Hi all. Just to confirm that I will be out until the rest of season. I am really sad with the news because I was enjoying a lot on the pitch.

“I am sure I will come back stronger and I will achieve everything that I dream with the LFC shirt.

“I am sure I’ll never walk alone.”

Lucas sustained the injury in an innocuous challenge with Chelsea’s Juan Mata during Tuesday’s Carling Cup victory at Stamford Bridge.

Lucas had also played the full 90 minutes against Manchester City barely 48 hours previously.

The news will be a huge blow to Reds boss Kenny Dalglish, who still has skipper Steven Gerrard out with an ankle infection.

Lucas had missed only one Premier League match – through suspension – all season, and last season played every minute of 26 of the Reds’ final 27 matches of the season.

Meanwhile, Spanish full-back Jose Enrique also played in both the Manchester City and Chelsea matches, and has revealed that his English Anfield team-mates have been trying to persuade him to change international allegiances!

Enrique is still waiting for his first Spanish call-up and is eligible to apply for British citizenship.

But he is prepared to wait for a Spanish call and declared: “Some team-mates have told me to apply for British citizenship, but I’m not thinking about doing that, because I’m Spanish and I’ll either play for Spain or nobody.

“I want to play for Spain. Playing for a club like Liverpool makes you think you’ll have more chance of representing your country, but it is Vicente Del Bosque who decides.”

The Reds, meanwhile, will offer New York Red Bulls striker Juan Agudelo the opportunity to train at Melwood during the MLS winter break.

But representatives of the 19-year-old insist the spell is not a trial. Agudelo’s agent, Ron Waxman, denied reports that his client is undergoing a trial at Anfield, and claimed that the young forward is “just training” with Liverpool.