Luis Alberto signed for Liverpool in the 2013 summer window, with some expectation around the midfielder after he arrived from Sevilla.
That first season wasn’t enough for the Spaniard to convince the Reds and a year later he was sent out on loan to Malaga, where he had a better time.
Liverpool still didn’t see a place in their squad for Luis Alberto, and he was progressing better in Spanish football anyway, so a second season long loan was arranged, this time to Deportivo La Coruna.
That was a successful loan, with the player picking up a good number of games and having an impact. But, still, it wasn’t thought that remaining at Anfield was the best option going forward.
In August 2016, he moved to Lazio in a permanent deal, but his first season with the Serie A club wasn’t much better than his first campaign with Liverpool, only making nine appearances.
Luis Alberto has been speaking to Marca about his career, and has revealed how hard he initially found things after his Liverpool exit and move to Lazio.
Alberto explains the situation
Albert says: “I had a very bad time the first five months, because I arrived on the last day.
I came from Liverpool, from practically training during the preseason just because I knew I had to go out. I didn’t come in fit, so it cost me a little more. Afterwards, Italy was very different from what I was to after coming from Deportivo de La Coruna. It cost me everything, mentally especially.”
Determined to make a go of things in Italy, the midfielder explained his next step:
“In the end I put myself in the hands of a person who helped me above all to work on my head,
The only problem I had, and in a matter of months it started to go differently, especially in training.
I finished the year playing the last games and starting in the Super Cup. And from there, everything was a bed of roses as they say.
“Believing a little more in myself and that I had the football
I had since I was little, in realising that I had it and still had it,
It was just a matter of working at it and having confidence in yourself.”
Luis Alberto has been at Lazio since, a favourite of the fans who call him Il Mago – The Magician.
