Lucas: You can see Allen quality
Lucas Leiva has revealed how Joe Allen is already impressing his new teammates in training.
The Wales international became our second summer signing on Friday, following Fabio Borini through the doors of Melwood.
Allen recorded superb Opta stats throughout last season with Swansea and now he is showing the Liverpool squad what he can do first hand.
"He had a training session with us and we can see what a quality player he is so hopefully he can be a key player for us during the season," Lucas told Liverpoolfc.com.
"It's one more player to fight for a place and it's really good for the club. We need more than 11 players to be successful.
"He had a good season last year and he had a great tournament in the Olympics as well. He has confidence and he has experience so hopefully he will do well for us."
Meanwhile, Liverpool have now completed all their pre-season fixtures, including two competitive games against Gomel of Belarus to qualify for the Europa League play-off round.
Lucas thinks there is an advantage to be gained from already having played meaningful football prior to Saturday's league opener against West Brom.
"It's always important to play a competitive game and we had the chance to play two before the Premier League season starts," said the 25-year-old.
"That will give us a good momentum and confidence to have a good start in the Premier League.
"We still have another week to train but I think it was a positive pre-season for us. We have spent a lot of time working and training with the new manager and we will be ready for the start of the new season.
"Hopefully we can start with a good win."
Liverpool collected their first trophy in six years last season when they beat Cardiff on penalties to lift the Carling Cup.
However, the league ended in disappointment with an eighth-placed finish and Lucas knows regaining a place in the top four has to be the aim this time around - even if he believes it is now harder than ever.
"Of course we have been doing well in pre-season but now it will be a big test for us," he said.
"I think we will have a better idea when the season starts. Let's go game by game and see what we are able to achieve, but hopefully we can get a Champions League spot which is what we are looking for.
"We can see many clubs competing for the top four so it's not going to be easy, unlike four years ago when maybe we only had four teams. This is a very difficult league to play in and we just have to make sure we approach every game really well and improve in every game."