Adam Lallana’s performance against Middlesbrough on Wednesday evening was symbolic of his fantastic 2016/27 so far.
There were genuine calls, even last season once Jurgen Klopp began to get the best out of him, for Lallana to be sold or replaced, but Liverpool’s boss was having none of it and instead reinvented the 28-year-old as a roaming central midfielder.
SEE MORE:
(Video) Lallana’s lovely Liverpool brace v ‘Boro; Playmaker best English footballer right now
This term, Coutinho and Sadio Mane have been exceptional, but we’d suggest the Englishman has been the best of the lot.
Here’s some statistics which back up the claim:
- Lallana has six goals and six assists in 12 PL starts – one more than Coutinho in the same number of games
- He’s achieved this in centre-mid, never used as part of the front-three
- In 2015/16, he registered five goals and five assists in total
- In terms of assists and goals combined, he’s now one ahead of Sadio Mane, who’s on 11
So impressive has Lallana been, Jamie Carragher think he’s England’s best footballer, and Jurgen Klopp agrees:
No Englishman playing better than Adam Lallana in @premierleague right now & very few of the foreign ones also! #LFC
— Jamie Carragher (@Carra23) December 14, 2016
“We have all the best English players!” Klopp told ESPN. “But Adam is in fine, fine form.”