Southampton Captain Getting Recognition At The Highest Level
Personal information
Full name: Adam David Lallana
Date of birth: 10 May 1988 (age 25)
Place of birth: St Albans, England
Height: 1.72 m (5 ft 8 in)
Playing position: Winger/Attacking midfielder
Club information
Current club: Southampton
Number: 20
Youth career
90’s–2000 Bournemouth
2000–2006 Southampton
Senior career
2006 – 2014 Southampton 250 Appearances, 58 Goals
2007 → Bournemouth (loan) 4 Appearances, 0 Goals
National team
2006–England U18 1 Appearances, 1 Goal
2006–England U19 1 Appearances, 0 Goal
2008–England U21 1 Appearances, 0 Goals
2013– England 2 Appearances, 0 Goals
The Southampton captain is comfortable with both feet, can dribble with the ball out wide and centrally, and create chances as well as take them.
He has five assists and seven goals in the Premier League this season. From an attacking point of view, Adam Lallana is pretty close to being the full package.
Exciting midfielder Lallana has progressed through the Club’s Academy to become one of its leading lights and Saints’ current Team Captain.
Southampton may have surprised many with their confident, eye-catching performances this season.
For those watching closely over recent years, however, it is no shock to see their charge against the Premier League’s elite spearheaded by captain Adam Lallana.
Since breaking into the first team just before the Saints were relegated to League One, the midfielder has gradually flourished and adapted to each step up on their rapid return to prominence.
Now, at 25, he is winning rave reviews and being singled out by the England manager for praise after his international debut.
Lallana has played like a free spirit in recent games, with his performance in their 3-0 victory over Fulham last weekend perhaps the most eye-catching.
He scored the opening goal and was the driving force behind their thrilling second-half display.
That it was all done in front of Roy Hodgson naturally led to Mauricio Pochettino being asked about Lallana’s candidacy for England’s World Cup squad.
The Southampton manager was in no doubt: his player should be on the plane, even going as far as saying that, on current form, Lallana is good enough to play not only for England but also the World Cup hosts and holders Brazil.
Unlike his contemporaries from Southampton’s famed academy, Gareth Bale and Theo Walcott, Lallana – a more gradual bloomer – stuck around to develop in the lower leagues.
A creative player with an eye for goal, Lallana was provider and executioner in almost equal measure in his final season as a schoolboy.
Playing ‘in the hole’ for Saints’ Under-17 side he found the net on 14 occasions and laid on eleven assists for others – the most for any player in Saints’ Academy.
The 2004/5 campaign started slowly for Lallana, however, as he required surgery to correct an irregular heart-beat – a condition discovered during the medical examination that followed a first call-up for the England Under-17 squad.
He was also a crucial player for Saints’ Under-18 side, as well as turning in some assured displays for the second string.
In April 2006 he also made a goal-scoring debut for England’s Under-18s, hitting the opener in the Three Lions’ 2-1 victory over Slovenia in his home town of Bournemouth.
Adam made his debut for Southampton at the age of 18, starting in a Carling Cup game against Yeovil on Wednesday 23rd August 2006.
He made his first league appearance three days later, but had to wait until the following season for his next taste of competitive action.
That would come during a month-long loan spell with nearby League One side AFC Bournemouth, where he made four appearances in October 2007.
He played a couple of times as a substitute upon his return to his parent club, scoring his first professional goal in a 1-1 draw at West Bromwich Albion in late April 2008.
He made 43 appearances in the following season as his stock began to rise, but the campaign would end in sadness as the club found itself in financial difficulty and relegated to the third tier.
Since then, Adam’s pathway to success coincided with the club’s rise back up the divisions.
Following the takeover of the club led by Nicola Cortese, Lallana resisted any suggestion of turning his back on Southampton in the aftermath of relegation.
Instead, he played 56 games and scored 20 times as Saints capped the 2009/10 season by winning the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy, with Lallana netting the second goal in a 4-1 win over Carlisle in the Wembley final.
The attacking midfielder was a focal point in the club’s promotion out of League One in the following season, scoring 11 goals in 41 games to earn himself a place in the PFA Team of the Year.
Lallana’s good form carried through into the 2011/12 campaign, getting into double figures once more, including a goal in the promotion-clinching win over Coventry in April 2012.
Adam’s form in the second tier saw him named in the PFA Team of the Year for a second successive campaign, whilst he also finished runner-up to teammate Rickie Lambert for the Championship’s Player of the Year award in 2012.
Having taken over as captain ahead of the club’s Premier League opener at Manchester City at the start of the 2012/13 season, September 2012 proved to be one of the most memorable times for Lallana – he earned his first full England call-up for a World Cup qualifying match against Ukraine at Wembley, before becoming a father for the first time when son Arthur Michael was born.
He overcame knee and groin injuries later in the season, netting his 50th Southampton goal in the win over Reading in April 2013 before signing a new five-year contract a few days later.
Alan Pardew and Steve Bruce are among the Premier League bosses who tried to swoop for him on the way but now, joining Rickie Lambert and Jay Rodriguez as the first wave of what could be several Saints faces in the England setup, the midfielder knows that staying was the right move.
“It was a coincidence that the club were at a similar place to me,” Lallana recalls of his early days in the first team.
“I feel like I’ve grown with the club, which has helped my development as a player, and now I’m playing in the best league in the world, captaining the side, and I’ve made my international debut.
So it’s proving worth it and I’m delighted, really happy, that I’ve contributed at the club and that I’m contracted for the foreseeable future.”
Though Roy Hodgson hailed him as a “major find” after his performances in losing causes during November’s friendlies against Chile and Germany, Lallana remains grounded about his chances of making the World Cup squad.
“I just want to keep enjoying my club football and trying to play well,” he says. “If I do that then hopefully I’m impressing people in the England setup.
“I try not to think about it, though obviously a lot of people ask me about it, but I kind of just blank it out and concentrate on my club and my performances.”
If he carries on as he has, though, there will surely be no question as to whether he will be on the plane.