OPINION
Liverpool midfielder Adam Lallana clearly knows he is in for a make-or-break season based on the fact he has been putting in the work while on holiday.
The 31-year-old attacking midfielder revealed on his personal Instagram account on Monday that he had used Real Mallorca’s training facilities while on holiday, and that he was thrilled to see them win promotion as a result.
“Buzzing for Real Mallorca on their promotion,” wrote Lallana.
“Very kindly allowed me to use their training facilities while on holiday and take in a game. Cracking club and even better group of people, congrats.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/BzFX2zfn554/
While Lallana probably is professional enough to have kept in good shape, when possible, in the summers gone by, the fact he has sorted out top-quality training facilities while on holiday; show he is trying to get himself in the best possible position ahead of the new season.
So this a clear reflection that he knows what a big campaign the 2019/20 season could prove to be for him, especially when it comes to his Liverpool future.
Lallana’s current contract is set to expire in June 2020 and while the club have an option to extend it by a year (Source: Transfermarkt), he needs to give them a reason to.
The 31-year-old managed only 13 appearances in the Premier League in his latest campaign, playing a total of 464 minutes, and notably didn’t play 90 minutes of any league game.
However, while that doesn’t seem a lot, the worrying thing is; it was an improvement on his 2017/18 campaign where he played only 236 minutes across 12 league outings.
Given that Lallana has had 11 separate injury problems since arriving at Anfield from Southampton, and that he is now the wrong side of 30; then if he doesn’t prove his worth why would the club keep him on?
After all, he isn’t a cheap option to have on the books as he earns £110,000-a-week (Source: Spotrac).
Yet Lallana can take hope in the fact he has previously proven himself to be good enough to feature in Jurgen Klopp’s side, as his 2016/17 season saw him make a positive impact.
The 31-year-old featured 31 times in the Premier League during that campaign, scoring eight goals and assisting seven, and his average rating across those games was an impressive 7.10 (Source: WhoScored).
Lallana had a pass completion rate of 84.3% and averaged 1.6 shots per game in his 2016/17 campaign, that saw him being a very useful attacker outlet for his side.
However, the midfielder clearly knows he can’t rely on past glory and is doing what he can to try to give himself the best chance of staying injury free and proving his worth in the upcoming campaign.
