Watford striker Troy Deeney has waxed lyrical about Adam Lallana, Liverpool’s backup midfielder.
Our Englishman’s contract expires in June this year, although he’s expected to be offered a short-term extension so he can finish the season – with 2019/20 set to be pushed back as a result of the coronavirus.
Lallana will collect his Premier League winners medal, but then depart on a Bosman, and Deeney thinks there’ll be no shortage of suitors.
“I was just chatting about this with my mates in our group chat – Lallana walks into 90 per cent of teams,” he said, cited in the Echo.
“He could play for Man City but I think they’re overpopulated… you would take him at United. “Tottenham would take him. Everton, Chelsea.”
Lallana, in terms of his technical ability, is undeniably a wonderful footballer. His feet are as good as anyone’s – and when fit – he can press and harass the opposition as well.
But he struggles to make things happen in the final third and doesn’t have the speed, power or dynamism to match the physicality of our other midfielders.
Jurgen Klopp has Fabinho, Jordan Henderson and Gini Wijnaldum as his first-choice three, with Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Naby Keita fighting for minutes – not to mention the evergreen James Milner.
The PL is currently suspended of course, so there’s no matches for fans to focus on, but you can check out this website for a free spin.
Lallana has been a loyal servant at Anfield since his 2014 transfer from Southampton – and he’ll be rewarded with a PL winners’ medal soon – but it’s time for him to try his luck elsewhere.
Although we don’t think he would necessarily fit in at City who have a plethora of technical midfielders, almost any other club would benefit from his guile .
It’ll be interesting to see where he ends up, but we could see Leicester City as an interesting fit. The Foxes are managed by Brendan Rodgers, the manager who originally brought him to Liverpool six years back, of course.
We don’t think he’d sign for a direct rival (although do Liverpool even have any of those, bar City?), so Leicester could be an intriguing option.
In his place, we don’t think Liverpool will bring in a new name – but will instead allow Curtis Jones to come in and fight for game time.
