In Steven Gerrard’s absence this season, it has been Jordan Henderson that has taken on the role of stand-in skipper. He’s certainly done a good job, one that has rightly left him as the main favourite to permanently take the armband once the 34-year-old departs in the summer.
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However, Brendan Rodgers has potentially thrown us a curve-ball by praising the leadership qualities of Adam Lallana. The 26-year-old has had a difficult first season on Merseyside, with injuries and indifferent form preventing him cementing a regular spot in our side.
But, according to the Liverpool Echo, Rodgers revealed that the way that the midfielder has bounced back from the setbacks has impressed him immensely.
“He is a player that I can rely on. He is a player that is well suited to this club and I think it hasn’t been form that has kept him out when he hasn’t been playing.
“It is normally he’s just had little niggly injuries. He has come from a team that is playing one game a week into a big club with huge expectations where there is three games in a week,” Rodgers explained.
The Northern Irishman admitted that he was sceptical when he previously heard that the England international has something of the leader about him, but believes that he has – gladly – been proved wrong, having worked with him.
“He has good leadership qualities. That was one of the things I was surprised about when I heard but having worked with him I can see he is very conscientious and he is very strong willed,” he added.
If Lallana was to become our captain, it would be a big surprise, but not entirely out of the blue. The 26-year-old led the revival that took former club Southampton from the brink of extinction to the riches of the Premier League.
The experience of becoming the talisman of the rejuvenated side has made him a more mature, even a slightly philosophical player, appreciative of where he now plies his trade.
Perhaps, Lallana as a future captain would not be as crazy a suggestion as it initially seems.