Lucas Leiva admits he came “very close” to leaving Liverpool FC during the transfer window.
The Brazilian midfielder looked set to quit Anfield after being left out of Brendan Rodgers' squad for the opening games against Stoke and Bournemouth.
Besiktas believed they were on the brink of securing his services but injury to captain Jordan Henderson led to Lucas earning a recall for last month's trip to Arsenal.
After an impressive performance in the capital, plans to move on were quickly shelved and he kept his place for the defeat to West Ham prior to the international break.
Lucas is glad he stayed put and has reaffirmed his commitment to the cause ahead of Saturday's crunch clash with Manchester United at Old Trafford.
Lucas Leiva's Liverpool career in pictures
“I think the last couple of years, every transfer window my name is (linked with a move),” he said.
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“Of course there are times when you think you might have to move on and I was very close to moving but one thing I will always have is commitment to this club.
“I've been here so long and I always said if I had the choice to be here and be happy, I would always choose Liverpool.
“When your future is in doubt, you might have to think of another solution, but I'm happy that it didn't happen and I'm here to fight for the club as I have been doing for eight years.
"I'm just looking forward to a good season and putting Liverpool back where it belongs. I have this chance to say I'm fully committed.
“I've been here so long and I really love this club, I just need to now focus on my performance and help in the way the manager and the staff asked me to help.
“Hopefully, I'll be an important player for the club this season."
'We have to learn from our mistakes'
Lucas admits the 3-0 defeat to West Ham a fortnight ago was tough to take after such a promising start to the campaign.
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“West Ham had a gameplan which was to be behind the ball and play counterattack," he told liverpoolfc.com
“Of course we conceded a very early goal, which makes it harder, and 2-0 down at half-time with two counterattacks it's always harder to get back.
"We had a red card, probably our best player wasn't with us after 10 minutes of the second half which made it even harder.
“We just have to now approach these types of games trying to be solid defensively as well because we know we'll probably have a lot of the ball but these kinds of teams are very quick breaking and we have to make sure we control that as well.
“We just have to move on and learn and hopefully going forward we don't make the same mistakes. That's what we need to do now, we have a busy schedule and this could be an important month for us.”
This is Lucas’ ninth season at Anfield and he has made 277 appearances since his arrival from Gremio for £5million in the summer of 2007.