It’s 10 years since Adam Lallana left Southampton for Liverpool for a payment of £25m – that wasn’t universally widespread amongst a few of the St Mary’s fanbase, however the midfielder is decided to win everybody again throughout his second spell on the membership.
Now 36, Lallana has returned to Southampton this season after 4 years at Brighton. When he moved to Liverpool in 2014, he was becoming a member of a membership who’d simply narrowly missed out on the Premier League title underneath Brendan Rodgers, and went on to win the trophy with Jurgen Klopp, in addition to the Champions League in 2019.
Regardless of that, some Saints followers voiced their upset when he departed – Lallana had ascended to skipper at St Mary’s, additionally being nominated for the PFA participant of the 12 months award after serving to the membership to eighth within the desk underneath Mauricio Pochettino.
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He was the second of six gamers to make the change from St Mary’s to Anfield over the course of the following 4 years, along with Rickie Lambert, Dejan Lovren, Nathaniel Clyne, Sadio Mane and Virgil van Dijk.
“It was 10 years in the past after I left,” Lallana solely tells FourFourTwo. “That final season was particular with Mauricio – I’ve by no means misplaced contact with him, he was an unlimited determine that helped form my profession and a giant motive why I acquired my transfer to Liverpool.
“Not all of the followers have been comfortable that I left, and it wasn’t a simple choice – whenever you go away to maneuver on, not everybody goes to be comfortable.
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Lallana is again at Southampton (Picture credit score: Puma)
“However I don’t have any regrets. The trophies I gained have been a reward for arduous work all through my profession, not simply throughout my years at Liverpool, however to get promoted out of League One and the Championship with Southampton.
“I loved my time at Liverpool, I loved my first spell at Southampton and my time at Brighton, too.
“I do know it was bittersweet after I left right here final time, however I believe I can restore a few of these wounds. I’ll all the time give my utmost right here. I’ve all the time had a particular place for this soccer membership. My son is within the academy and we’ve lived native to the realm for years.”
Southampton will look to outlive this time period (Picture credit score: Puma)
Lallana missed Southampton’s opening video games of the brand new season due to harm, and was chatting with FFT at a St Mary’s occasion to mannequin the membership’s new equipment. Saints have linked up with PUMA on a four-year deal, with bespoke kits for all groups on the membership, from the boys’s and girls’s first groups by means of to the academy.
“I like the equipment, I like the stripes, it’s nice to be again right here in crimson and white, and collaborating with PUMA once more, too,” he says. “I’ve been carrying PUMA for a few years – I began my relationship with PUMA once we acquired into the Premier League with Southampton 12 years in the past, so it’s fairly becoming. The lads are all actually proud of the equipment.
“I’ve cherished my first few weeks again on the membership. Once you get to my age, you are taking it 12 months by 12 months – I don’t know at this level how lengthy I’ll play on for, we’ll see what occurs in direction of the top of the season.
“I simply wish to take pleasure in this 12 months as a lot as potential. I nonetheless really feel I can provide one thing on the pitch and I may also help the younger gamers, too.”
