Aurelio: He deserved it

Fabio Aurelio has heaped praise upon Lucas Leiva's imperious 2010-11 form and backed his Brazilian compatriot to maintain his position as a key player for Liverpool over the coming years.

A watershed campaign for the midfielder saw him rewarded with a new long-term Reds contract and named as the landslide winner of the Standard Chartered Player of the Season accolade.

Aurelio has been impressed with Lucas's development since he arrived on Merseyside from Gremio in 2007 - and he's tipping the 24-year-old to continue to flourish.

"Everyone can see how different he is now from when he first arrived in England," Aurelio told LFC Weekly. "He is much more mature, stronger physically and knows more about how to win games.

"I think there was a great impact to move from Brazil to England because there is a very different style of football and also he was very young when he arrived here. So together with the big changes it was very difficult for him in the beginning and the pressure was there as well.

"I think he has shown great personality and capability to change things around. We remember that at the beginning the fans were not very happy with him but he was patient and remained concentrated on his work and now we can see that he is a man who can do the job.

"He deservedly has a new contract with the club and we hope that he can spend a lot of years here in Liverpool because he can be a great player for us, just like he was last season."

An incredible 40 per cent of the 129,774 votes cast on this website saw Lucas scoop the Player of the Season award, and he was joined in the top five by fellow South American Luis Suarez.

The Uruguayan only moved to Anfield in January, but made an astonishing impact, contributing four goals and countless assists in his 13 appearances.

Much like everyone else, Aurelio admits to being impressed at how quickly Suarez adapted to the rigors and demands of English football following his switch from Ajax.

"He has settled in very quickly," he said. "I thought he might struggle with the change in style of football because there is a big difference between Holland and England but he has adapted very well and in the first few games he had we could see that he was playing as if he had always played in England.

"We feel very happy and very comfortable that he can keep improving his football. This will bring more happiness for the team because if he is performing better and better, he will have a great impact in our team."