The Guardian journalist and The Anfield Wrap writer, Sachin Nakrani, looks back at the transformation of Lucas Leiva’s spell on Merseyside…

Lucas Leiva is not a footballer. Well he is, of course he is, but in the context of his career at Liverpool the 26-year old is more than that; he is a walking, talking metaphor for how dedication, belief, patience and talent can overcome a sense of perpetual doom. Watching Lucas now, it is hard to believe the boy from Dourados was once ridiculed and loathed in L4.

But he was, with the bulk of Liverpool supporters deeming the player Rafael Benitez had signed from Gremio for £5m in May 2007 not only unworthy of the red shirt but also a charlatan for daring to put it on in the first place. There was genuine scorn in the barracking, with a nadir reached on a brisk evening at Goodison Park in February 2009 when Lucas was sent off for two bookable offences in an FA Cup fourth-round replay against a team that took almost crazed satisfaction from their eventual 1-0 victory. The tie was goalless when Lucas was dismissed and the sense from the away end was that this hopeless prat had cost the side. Boos rang out, foul-language spilled into the winter air and continued some time after the player had departed down the tunnel. It seemed then that he had no way back.