There can be no doubt that Adam Lallana was one of the stars of the 2013/14 Premier League season.
Having just turned 26 on May 10th, Lallana is entering the stage of his career when he should be circling the summit of his potential and seeing his game really come into his own. In fact, last season, he managed an impressive 11 goals and 6 assists for un-fancied Southampton, and led his side on an unlikely title ‘challenge’ right up until Christmas before the South-Coast club fell away.
For most clubs, Lallana could well prove to be one of the marquee signings of the summer and for Liverpool this is no different. But having had a £20 million bid rejected, then a £25 million bid rejected, Southampton are now reportedly seeking a, quite frankly, extortionate £30 million for the midfielder, while The Times’ Tony Barrett last night supported this claim by stating that Lallana’s current club are after a greater fee than Liverpool are prepared to pay.
It’s fair to say that, for many Liverpool fans, £25 million would’ve been the extreme upper-limit of what they felt the club should pay for the midfielder, whilst £30 million is just flat-out ridiculous. You could quite easily make the argument that, with the added premium that must be paid for English players – and given Lallana’s obvious quality, he is worth what the Reds are prepared to pay for him but pushing the £30 million mark just isn’t worth it, particularly with proven, world-class talent supposedly available in the form of Cesc Fabregas.
And while Fabregas may not necessarily be the kind of player that fits into Liverpool’s current system, it does just go to show that most Premier League clubs often look abroad simply because English players are overpriced and over-rated.
While a player like Fabregas may be already established as world-class but not right for Liverpool, somebody like Bayern’s Xherdan Shaqiri or even another Barca player, in Pedro, would probably be available for the same (or even less) than both Fabregas and Lallana, and in Shaqiri’s case, many would go as far as to rate him more highly.
It would be a dream to have a squad chock-full with talented young English players, and the Roy of the Rovers style return of Rickie Lambert will only prove to have heightened the sense that Liverpool are very much about buying the ‘best of British’ in that sense, particularly with a squad already including Gerrard, Henderson, Sturridge, Sterling, Johnson and Flanagan (amongst others) but Rodgers and Liverpool cannot afford to spend weeks being bent over a barrel by Southampton and must either force Lallana to push a deal through with his club or choose to move on.
If Lallana is to sign before the World Cup, then there’s no doubting that he would be welcomed with open arms by the vast majority of Liverpool fans but this summer is not the time for sentiment, and the club, manager and ‘transfer committee’ must take a cold-hearted, calculated approach to their transfer dealings to ensure all the key transfers they plan to put in place this summer are carried out over the next two weeks and the Southampton captain’s situation can be no different.
Love another quality englishman at the club but 25m is too much. 30m is plain daft
That is a superb write-up by David Tyrer. I share the same view. Liverpool should move on from Lallana if the club is unwilling to accept 25m pounds. Shaqiri is a great option to fill in that space. Konoplyanka is equally available for 12m pounds. They are all well-ranked mercurial midfield magicians. Let’s throw away sentiments.
Not like you’re prone to paying extortionate prices is it ???
Andy Carroll anyone 🙂
Carrol? Quality mate. Talk downing and adam! Who’s left foot and corners were worth 10 million. The scottish alonso.
🙂
Agreed. Move on LFC. Shaqiri + Konoplyanka are available together for less than S’oton want for Lallana.
The club were prepared to pay a 10 million premium for the guy. I rate him at the 15 million mark and think anything above that is mad. That is with a premium included. Quality player? Yes with one very good season under his belt at the tender age of 26! Does he have what it takes for the CL campaign? Or for playing another level or two above southampton? It’s a risk.
25 million is showing a lot of faith in the judgement, pushing it too far. 30??? You are having a laugh.
Let’s see. Is there a competitor paying 20-25 million? No
Move on, it will be bullet dodged in years to come .
At the end of the day, if you want him you’ll have to pay what Saints think he is worth – not what Liverpool think he’s worth.
Trust me, as a Saint’s fan having watched him since he was 19 when he broke into our first team, you would be getting one hell of a footballer regardless of the price.
It’s being rumoured that this is your last offer. No disrespect, but that’s fine with me. However, it’s also rumoured if the Lallana deal falls through, you are going in for James Milner instead. Sorry, but I find that quite insulting – Lallana has more skill in his big toe than Milner has in his whole workman like body 🙂
Milner is a donkey. A hard working man and that’s about it! Can’t even play for England. How hard can it be! I mean, it’s not like we are setting the world alight in the next tournament?
If you want English players, got to develop them yourself. Simple as that. See Flanagan, Stirling etc. No easy way to do it. Buying them is great but there is no value.
Very true, nice article, I bet With 25m we can land ourselves world class talents abroad. Let’s move on and stick to our objectives, after all, it will be Lallana’s loss if Lfc moved on and signed secured a big signing abroad.
Think its more about southampton gettin a coach first so he gets alternatives…..and bet u his heading to anfield.
Suarez cost us 25m cortinho 8m Sturridge
12m, then Lallana for 25 and 30 too much.
We got burnt with Carroll 35m let’s not have a repeat.
Well said!
I know he is a talent, but 30 mill thats just too much.even paying 25 is for me foolish. first of all, the big question is do we need an expensive british talent in our midfield? no imo. we can get very talented players for batter price in that area. fir instance for 30 mill we can ge
– Shaqiri + Konoplyanka+vorom
-montoya +tello+rackitch+diame.
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paying the British-premium is very laughable since we cqn afford champions league. I haven’t heard of any interest from the top 4 clubs. so if he want to play at the highest level, he can force a move. he is not defiantly better than sturrige, have u heard anybody saying Lallana is gonna make the world cup litup, no.but sturridg is expected to do so. if we pay 12 mill for him, paying 25 mill for unproven talent is unacceptable. besides, he is too old for 25 mill without champions league experience.
whyyy………BR.. please dont burn the money
Must Get : Must Out Call Back
1. Dejan Lovren – Agger can out Illori
2. Alberto Moreno – toure Wisdom
3. Alexis Sanchez ( 35 M )……………… – if suarez to RM Borini
4. Javi Martinez ( 25 ) – Lucas can off
5. Lambert – Done – Aspas
6. Koplyanka or Shakiri – Assaidi
You will play at CL and Epl consistency
Keeper
Mignolet
Reina
Back 4
Skertel
Lovren
Illori
Coady
Johnson
Flanagan
Wisdom
Kelly
Moreno
Enrique
Javi Martinez
Shako
Mid
Gerrard
Henderson
Cautinho
Sterling
Allen
Koplyanka or Shakiri
Teixiera
Forward
Suarez or alexis
sturridge
Lambert
Borini