Southampton want Adam Lallana to return to his former club on a free transfer and add his experience to their upcoming Premier League campaign.
Lallana, 36, has been approached by Russell Martin’s side, who are moving quickly to try to bolster their squad after Sunday’s Sky Bet Championship play-off victory over Leeds United.
The midfielder started his professional career with Southampton, making 265 appearances between 2006 and 2014 before a £25million move to Liverpool.
After winning the Champions League and Premier League at Anfield, Lallana moved to Brighton & Hove Albion in 2020 but decided to leave at the end of this season when his contract expired.
The chance to return to his roots would appeal to Lallana, who has a young family living on the south coast. A potential move could also delay his planned move into coaching. He worked alongside the England Under-21 coach Lee Carsley for much of the past year while still playing for Brighton.
Lallana, the former England international, was at Wembley on Sunday to watch Southampton beat Leeds United 1-0 through Adam Armstrong’s first-half goal.
He made 30 appearances for Brighton this season and his top flight know-how would benefit Martin’s squad as they look to cement themselves as a Premier League club once again.
Southampton’s play-off success means an obligation to purchase the England Under-21 centre back Taylor Harwood-Bellis from Manchester City has been triggered. The deal is worth around £20million.
Further reshaping of Martin’s squad could be necessary, with striker Ché Adams out of contract and a target for Wolverhampton Wanderers. David Brooks, Flynn Downes and Ryan Fraser were on loan at Southampton this season from Bournemouth, West Ham United and Newcastle United respectively.
West Ham are considering retaining Downes next season despite a move by Southampton to sign the midfielder on a permanent deal. West Ham are short of homegrown players and would only consider selling Downes, 25, who was named as Southampton’s player of the year, for a sizeable profit on the £12million they paid to Swansea City in 2022.
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However Downes has said that he would “love” to stay at Southampton as he knows that his chances of regularly playing at West Ham are limited due to competition from Edson Álvarez, Tomas Soucek and James Ward-Prowse. He played 35 times for West Ham in his first season there.
Fraser, 30, wants to join Southampton permanently after he made 44 appearances this season, scoring eight goals. Fraser fell out with Eddie Howe, the head coach, during his time at Newcastle and was sent to train with the under-21s before his loan move. Newcastle are happy to sell the winger, who has one year remaining on his contract.
