Southampton have reportedly joined the race to land Liverpool midfielder Adam Lallana at the end of the season.

According to The Express, Southampton are prepared to make a move for Lallana, who is set to be a free agent at the end of the campaign.

The report also claims that Tottenham, Arsenal, Leicester and West Ham are interested in the England international.

READ SOUTHAMPTON VERDICT

Whilst it could be a nice story for Lallana to return to his former club, we feel it may well be a bad move by the club.

Lallana started his career at Southampton and made over 250 appearances, earning promotion to the Premier League and enjoying two seasons in the top-flight before joining Liverpool in 2014. They could be best off leaving it at that for his playing career at St. Mary’s.

This is due to several factors, including his age, wage and competition for his signature. He will be 32 by the start of next season, which suggests that he could be heading towards the end of his career and may not be a player Southampton can develop over time.

Spotrac report that Lallana is currently on £110k-per-week at Liverpool, whilst the same site claims that Danny Ings is Southampton’s highest earner on £75k-per-week. With Lallana having managed one goal in 19 games as an attacking midfielder for Liverpool this season, does he deserve to come in and be Southampton’s highest earner at his age?

The stats suggest that the answer is no, with Lallana’s WhoScored rating this season lower than 17 of Southampton’s current squad.

In terms of competition, Tottenham, Arsenal and Leicester are all either playing European football this season or on course for European qualification for the 2020/21 campaign, whilst Southampton are currently in the bottom half of the table.

Would you like Lallana back?

Yes

No