Should Liverpool be pursuing Adam Lallana?

Liverpool are believed to have made an improved bid of £25million for Southampton midfielder Adam Lallana

According to Sky Sports, Liverpool has bid £25million for Southampton and England midfielder Adam Lallana.

The playmaker is currently away on international duty ahead of the World Cup and played in the Three Lions 3-0 victory over Peru at Wembley.

It seems that the Reds could be signing two players from Southampton this summer, with Saints striker Rickie Lambert currently on Merseyside for a medical ahead of completing a £4million move to Anfield.

Second Bid

This is the Reds second bid for highly-rated midfielder Lallana, having had a bid of around £20million turned down by the Saints a few weeks ago.

It seemed that Brendan Rodgers’ club was going to stick by their valuation of Lallana, but they have now decided to up their bid.

Talented

There is no doubt about Adam Lallana’s talent. At 26-year-old, the midfielder is just hitting his peak and last season showed that he now has the consistently to play at the highest level. Lallana scored nine Premier League goals for the Saints and got six assists which is a pretty good record for a midfielder.

His ability to provide flair and take opposition players on is something that English players seemed to have lacked in recent years. Lallana is definitely not your typical English workhorse midfielder and that is why he has earned himself a place in Roy Hodgson’s 23-man England squad for the World Cup.

Overpriced?

Some Liverpool fans are questioning the wisdom of paying such a high price and blame the fact that he is English for his price tag.

Liverpool have been burnt before by signing English talent at overinflated prices though, with the likes of big money signings Andy Carroll and Stewart Downing major flops at Anfield. It seems that some Liverpool fans are not convinced that Lallana is actually worth the mooted fee.

Maybe Reds fans are thinking that they already have the likes of Philippe Coutinho and Raheem Sterling at the club that can play in Lallana’s position.

For Southampton it would constitute a major amount of money for a player that came through their youth set-up. However, Lallana is a key player for the Saints and his loss along with the loss of striker Lambert will be a major blow for the team’s progress.

Strengthening

I really like Adam Lallana as a footballer, but I cannot help thinking that Liverpool need strengthening in other areas, mainly defence. For a team who finished second in the Premier League their defensive record was terrible.

Much of that poor defensive record can be put down to Brendan Rodgers brave style of play. However, with the right defenders that style can prove fruitful at both ends of the field for the Reds.

Dare I say a good example of that lies across Stanley Park. Everton boss Roberto Martinez has instilled his own style of play with the Toffees, but it is far more successful at Everton than it was at Wigan, simply because Everton have far better defenders.

Everton finished the season with the third best defensive record in the top-flight. Martinez’s team obviously did not hit the scoring heights of Liverpool, but they played football and remained solid at the back for much of the season.

Brendan Rodgers is an intelligent guy. He will know that his defence needs improving and it seems he has earmarked highly-rated young Sevilla left-back Alberto Moreno as one of the men to improve his sides defence.

However, there are concerns that the Reds need to also strengthen at heart of their defence this summer. Rodgers brought in French centre-back Mamadou Sakho from PSG last summer, but the 24-year-old was not always overly-convincing in his performances.

The fact that he and Danish centre-back Daniel Agger rotated alongside Martin Skrtel probably did not help Liverpool’s defensive record. If Liverpool does bring in a new centre-back this summer, then Rodgers needs to find a settled back backline and stick with them.

Uncertainly in defence tends to lead to goals conceding and at the end of the day the Reds defensive record cost them the title last season.

Unsure

Anyway, back to Lallana. I do think that the Saints midfielder would be a great signing for Liverpool, but not at the expense of strengthening the weak areas of the team this summer. If the Reds can bring in Lallana and improve the defence then I would have no qualms about his signing.

However, I do believe that the Reds do need to improve that sieve like backline, or they could be facing a similar story next season of conceding far too many goals and that certainly will not win them that long-awaited top-flight title.

Should Liverpool be pursuing Adam Lallana?