Liverpool news: John Aldridge says Lucas can extend Reds career by playing centre-back

Former Liverpool striker John Aldridge has urged Lucas Leiva to switch from midfield to centre-back position in order to extend his Anfield career. Jurgen Klopp fielded the Brazilian in the heart of the back four in their Capital One Cup final defeat to Manchester City.

The Brazilian starred for the Merseyside club at Wembley as the match ended in a 1-1 draw, post which the course of the game was decided on penalties. Lucas failed to convert from the spot kick as Manuel Pellegrini enjoyed their first success of this campaign.

Lucas' current deal at Liverpool runs down in 2017 and the 29-year-old will enter into his final year of contract in the summer. Aldridge had earlier explained Klopp's biggest task would be deciding whether to include the versatile star in the Capital One Cup final. The Anfield favourite was impressed with the South American's performance in the Reds' last fixture.

"If there was one person who didn't deserve to end up on the losing side on Sunday, it was Lucas," Aldridge told the Liverpool Echo.

"For me, he had his best game in a Liverpool shirt. It was a surprise selection, but he justified it 100%. It was such a shame he had to be one of the ones to miss from the spot."

"He's an option now at centre back, for sure. He might just have added years onto his Reds career. We have four senior centre backs, and they're all much of a muchness. What Lucas does is he reads the game, he talks and leads, and he can play the ball out from the back too."

"He was brilliant winning headers and judging the play in his own penalty area — he reminded me of Carra at times, and that's high praise indeed!

"Modern centre backs don't play like they did in my day. They don't have to be 6ft 5in — look at Mascherano at Barcelona — but they need to read the game and be able to communicate. Lucas can do that, for sure," he added.