Former Premier League striker Noel Whelan has tipped Liverpool midfielder Adam Lallana for a January exit from the club.
The 31-year-old has struggled for fitness throughout his time on Merseyside and, with just a couple years left on his contract [Source: Spotrac], BBC pundit Whelan believes he could be off soon.
“I think come January if he hasn’t signed a new contract, you won’t be seeing him at the football club next year,” he told Football Insider. “Look, he’s a fantastic player [so] there won’t be a shortage of clubs who will take him on, but it won’t be one of the top-four probably.
“One of the middling clubs will take the chance on him as I think it’s a different level of midfielder Liverpool are looking to get in at the club, due to the Champions League success and how close they came to the Premier League. I think it may just be a bit too much for Lallana now to push himself into the first-team.”
OPINION
It’s hard to disagree with Whelan, here. Lallana is a talented player and Jurgen Klopp obviously likes him, but he hasn’t been able to stay fit and is moving beyond his peak years now. He was shifted to a deep-lying holding midfield role this pre season and did pretty well, which might help him, but there’s just so much competition at Anfield. In central midfield at the moment he is currently stuck behind Fabinho, Jordan Henderson, Georginio Wijnaldum, James Milner, Naby Keita, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Xherdan Shaqiri. It’s going to be immensely difficult for him to ever recapture regular first team football with the club. As Whelan says, there probably won’t be a shortage of clubs chasing the former Southampton man if the Reds put him up for sale, but he might have to drop a level. Clubs like West Ham United, Bournemouth or his old team at St Mary’s Stadium might be the England international’s best bet were he to leave Anfield.
