Brighton confirm the signing of Liverpool midfielder Adam Lallana
Brighton & Hove Albion have completed the signing of England international midfielder Adam Lallana on a free transfer from Liverpool.
Lallana has signed a three-year deal with the Seagulls, taking a cut on his £100,000 a week wages at Anfield to return to the south coast.
He began his career along the A27 at Southampton, coming through the ranks at St Mary’s to help the Saints climb from League One to the Premier League at the start of the previous decade.
Long-time Brighton watchers were alerted to his talents in the 2010-11 League One title winning season. The Albion had already wrapped up the championship when Southampton came to Withdean with Gus Poyet’s You Know Who’s side looking to go unbeaten at home and top 100 points.
They looked in a good position to do so as the sides went into the break with the Albion leading 1-0 through an Ashley Barnes goal. Nigel Adkins threw on Lallana at half time and the second half was a very different story as Lallana ran the game, inspiring the Saints to come from behind and win 2-1. It was a massive result in their bid to pip Huddersfield Town to the runners up spot behind Brighton.
Lallana reached the top flight with Southampton a year later and took to it like the proverbial duck to water. By 2013 he was a regular in the England squad, earning over 34 caps and going to the 2014 World Cup in Brazil and Euro 2016 in France with the Three Lions. He was voted as England Player of the Year in 2016 by members of the England Supporters Club.
Lallana’s excellent form coincided with the period when Liverpool’s transfer policy was to buy any half decent player from Southampton, and so after returning from the World Cup he moved to Merseyside for £25 million.
His critics will say that Lallana flattered to deceive during his six seasons at Anfield, but he leaves with a Champions League winners medal and a Premier League winners medal for his collection.
His 85th minute equaliser in a 1-1 draw at Old Trafford in October showed that Liverpool had the substance to go with all their style. It was a crucial moment in the Reds’ ultimately successful pursuit of a first title in 30 years.
Jurgen Klopp has hailed Lallana as one of the best professionals he has ever come across. When Lallana captained an inexperienced Liverpool team packed with youngsters to a 1-0 win over Everton in the FA Cup back in January, Klopp said that those young players will always remember the night that Lallana guided them to a famous victory against their city rivals.
Critics of Brighton signing Lallana will point to his injury record over the past three seasons, which admittedly is not great. His football betting stats show that he has played just 54 matches since 2017 and not many of those have lasted the full 90 minutes either.
But if Brighton can get Lallana fitter than he has been for Liverpool, then they have a serious player on their hands. Klopp has often hailed Lallana’s ability to press while his threat in the final third, range of passing and creativity makes him the perfect player for the style of football which Graham Potter has introduced to the Albion.
Lallana also brings experience at the very top level as well as natural leadership. He was made Southampton skipper at a young age and the guidance he has given Liverpool’s young talents is well documented.
With Potter lowering the age profile of the Brighton squad, who better for young prospects like Aaron Connolly, Steve Alzate and Ben White to work with than Lallana?
There may be some reservations over his wages, although nobody actually knows how much Lallana is set to earn. If you read the hundreds of in-the-know experts on Twitter, Brighton are paying him anything between £90,000 a week and a set of Burger King vouchers.
But even if Lallana is earning only £10,000 less than his six figure pay at Anfield, he will still cost Brighton just £14 million in wages over the course of his three-year deal. We say just because that is less than the Albion paid in transfer fees alone to sign both Alireza Jahnabakhsh and Jurgen Locadia.
The most interesting aspect of the deal bringing Lallana in from Liverpool is that it signals something of a shift in transfer policy for Brighton.
Tony Bloom has resisted paying big money for a marquee name, instead preferring to shop in foreign markets and the Championship over the past three summers.
With the Albion now set to embark on their fourth season in the Premier League, the club appear to be willing to fork out larger sums of money on bigger name players.
The fact we can now attract an England international who has won the highest honours in the game to the Amex is also testament to the Albion’s current standing in English football.
Whether you agree with the signing of Lallana or not, there is no doubting that these are exciting times to be a Brighton fan.
