Rumour Mongering: Adam Lallana to Return to Southampton?

This might be worth keeping an eye on.

It’s been a bumpy, if not unsuccessful, ride for Adam Lallana at Liverpool.

Having been intermittently useful under his first season at the club with Brendan Rodgers, his second saw the arrival of Jürgen Klopp that helped him push on, and his third saw him hit a really terrific vein of form. As the most advanced midfielder in the 4-3-3 shape, Lallana was vital in triggering the side’s press as well as an important creative passer in possession. It was an excellent year’s work and looked as though it would continue.

Then, of course, the injuries hit. In the past two years, the idea of Lallana has always been an appealing one, but he just never manages to get fit. Thus, it’s hardly a surprise to see talk of him leaving the club this summer. Tony Banks of The Express claims that Lallana does not believe he has a future at the club, and would be interested in returning to Southampton at a suggested price of £13 million.

Now, there are reasons to think this could be viable. The Southampton manager, Ralph Hasenhüttl, isn’t known as the Alpine Klopp for nothing. He wants an aggressive pressing style, and Lallana is certainly suited to that style of football. He could be exactly the type of player the Austrian needs to add to his squad as part of the rebuild at Southampton.

On the other hand, the fans at St. Mary’s Stadium hate him. They really, really hate him. In their eyes, Lallana is a traitor for turning his back on the club after seemingly assuring everyone he wasn’t going anywhere. It’d take a big PR push to win people over with the feeling the fans have with him.

The suspicion is that this particular rumour is nonsense, but expect to hear more about Lallana’s future over the course of the summer.

Source: liverpooloffside.sbnation.com