Lucas Leiva was presented an award by Kenny Dalglish at Anfield for his 10 years of service in May 2017Former Liverpool player Lucas Leiva has announced his retirement from football, aged 36, because of a heart condition. The issue was detected in pre-season testing with Gremio, the Brazilian defensive midfielder's boyhood club, for whom he re-signed in the summer. Leiva was signed from Gremio for £5m by Liverpool in 2007 and went on to make 346 appearances in 10 seasons at Anfield. "I can only be thankful for the career I built," Leiva said on social media.
He initially struggled to break into the Liverpool midfield, but after the departures of Xabi Alonso and Javier Mascherano.
His tally of 247 Premier League appearances for Liverpool is the fourth-most by a Brazilian in the competition's history. Leiva signed for Lazio in 2017 and went on to win the Coppa Italia with the Serie A club.