The Reds have finally sealed the deal for Southampton’s 26 year old captain Adam Lallana. The deal took a lot longer to go through than it was originally anticipated by Liverpool because of the World Cup (which for England, wasn't that long).
Adam Lallana has followed his former Southampton and now Liverpool team mate Rickie Lambert to Anfield who arrived at the Anfield club at the start of the June. During his first interview for LFC, Lallana had this to say:
"I was very grateful that Southampton finally accepted the offer. I've been granted my wish to play at such a fantastic football club, in champion's league football and competing for premier league titles."
The Southampton captain was an integral part of Mauricio Pochettino's side as they impressed in the second season in the Premier League, scoring 9 goals and providing 6 assists while Liverpool’s attacking midfielder Philippe Coutinho scored 5 and made 7 assists and Raheem Sterling found the net 9 times and assisted a goal on 5 occasions. Lallana created 62 chances from open play during the last season which is the same amount as Jordan Henderson.
Lallana is the latest signing by Brendan Rodgers and like other signings before him, he's a versatile player with loads of talent and a desire to prove himself at the highest level. Lallana played at seven different positions for Southampton last season making him one the most versatile players in the Liverpool squad right now. Including attacking midfielder (left, right, and center), both wings and can also be deployed as a false number 9 in case of need.
The arrival of Lallana at Liverpool is also likely to bring the best out of Philippe Coutinho who has not impressed as much as everyone expected after the quality of football he delivered in the second half of the 12/13 season when he arrived in January from Inter Milan, which was may be due to a lack of competition for his place. Lallana plays in almost the same positions as of Coutinho and the style of play of both midfielders bears resemblance. Apart from it he can also replace Sterling in the squad as he can play on both wings. So it will be interesting to see how the Liverpool manager uses these three attacking midfielders as well as new arrival Emre Can and Jordan Henderson who played every game last season except the three games he missed due to suspension, but it’s Brendan Rodgers’ headache who will hopefully manage it easily.
Asad Imtiaz
Why are you in favour of signing of Lallana at Liverpool?
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