What he fails to do – again, like a lot of ex-pros – is back up his opinions with facts. If a genuine journalist wrote an article with statements like those that he made, they would be castigated for a complete lack of research and evidence backing up their statements. For instance, Aldridge states that Spearing is a better player now than Lucas was three years ago. On the face of it, it’s a relatively pointless, throwaway statement that only goes to prove that Aldridge still hasn’t fully accepted Lucas’s quality and improvement and believes that, as Lucas was a first-teamer back then, Spearing – being a better player now than Lucas of 3 years ago – warrants a place in the first team. However, if he looked at the facts: three years ago, Lucas Leiva was just 21, was a first team regular for Liverpool, has not long ago made his debut for the most successful nation on the planet, Brazil, and had been one of the youngest players to be voted player of the season in Brazil, having been a first choice for one of Brazil’s biggest clubs – Gremio. He had also won the South American under-20 Championship with Brazil and went on to win a bronze medal with them at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Compare that to Spearing who, before he turned 22, had played less than 20 games for Liverpool, despite being a member of the first team squad for the best part of the last 2 seasons. He has only a 2008 Reserve League Winners medal to his name (which, Lucas also has) and has never appeared for England at any level from youth, right up to the Under-21’s. By the time Lucas reached the age of 21, he had completed a £6 million move to Liverpool, after having been linked with a number of Spanish and Italian clubs. You could also throw in the fact that a number of great managers over the years have seen something in Lucas that other youngsters just don’t have from World Cup winning Brazil coach, Dunga, to Champions League winning Spaniard Rafa Benitez.

Some would say that pitting the two against each other this way is a little unfair, but that’s precisely what John Aldridge has done. Only, I’ve used facts and achievements for the basis of my argument, rather than conjecture and opinion and the conclusion it has helped me to reach is that, without a shadow of a doubt, Jay Spearing is not a better player now, than Lucas was three years ago.

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