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Liverpool to tie Adam Lallana down for peak years with £150,000-a-week contract until 2021
Adam Lallana will become the latest Liverpool player to commit his long-term future to the club by signing a new four year contract.
Talks between Lallana and his representatives are at an advanced stage, with the England international to shortly pen a deal worth £150,000 a week.
The new terms will keep the midfielder on Merseyside until 2021, by which time he will be 32 having spent the peak of his career at Anfield.
Lallana moved to Liverpool from Southampton in 2014 for £25 million, and after a tough start under Brendan Rodgers has elevated his game and role under the leadership of Jurgen Klopp.
The 28-year-old has thrived under the German, especially when used in a deeper midfield role earlier this season. He is also a key player for his country, sure to be essential to Gareth Southgate’s rebuilding process towards the next World Cup.
Klopp has wanted Lallana tied down as he sees him as the foundation of the side he is building, despite the recent downturn at the start of 2017.
Both at the end of last season and the start of this one, no-one in the country was performing as consistently as Lallana. An untimely injury while on international duty with England in November upset his rhythm, and that – not coincidentally – was when Liverpool’s stopped producing their free-flowing football with the same thrilling regularity.
Nevertheless, Lallana remains one of Klopp’s chief lieutenants and there was no question he would commit to the club having settled in the region and built such a trusted relationship with the manager.
Having drifted out of the title race in the last month, Lallana admits the team must change its mentality to go from a side that occasionally thrills to one that wins trophies.
“You don’t have to always win by scoring five or six,” he said.
“Maybe that’s an area we need to improve on. James Milner is probably the only one in our group who has that type of experience because it only comes from winning silverware.
“Myself and the other players haven’t won titles or loads of cups so we need to learn from him.”
Lallana’s deal follows that of Phlippe Coutinho, who signed a five year contract last month.
Although Liverpool have been criticised for failing to recruit more players in January, Klopp sees the process as one of evolution, building around those he feels have already shown they can meet the highest standards.
His long-term plan was always to add another four or five new faces in the summer – but only those he has tracked for some time – although it was expected Liverpool will be in European competition next season and would naturally need more personnel.
Decisions will need to be taken on numerous fringe players in the summer, the likes of Daniel Sturridge reliant on injuries in order to start games regularly between now and May.
That will mean another busy period with recruitment is beckoning at the end of the season, but not with the same upheaval as in recent times. In the past, when Liverpool have signed several players it has led to another prolonged rebuilding process as the new first team gels.
Klopp is determined that will not be the case this time, as although he recognises the need for more quality players to give him more selection options, he feel he has a base intact for the next few years. Lallana’s new deal is another demonstration of that.