After leaving Brighton citing spending more time with his family in Bournemouth as one of the reasons not to pen a new deal, speculation that Adam Lallana might be returning to Southampton was fuelled after he was spotted supporting the club at Wembley on Sunday.
To get the white elephant out of the room early doors, when Adam Lallana left Saints in the summer of 2014it was under a cloud, there were those that felt he pushed to hard for the move instead of sitting back and letting things run their course.
In essence no one was begrudging him the move, after all since making his debut in August 2006 for the club aged just 18, he had racked up 235 League games scoring 48 goals, plus another 30 appearances in cup competitions scoring 12 goals, any player who turns out in 265 games and hits 60 goals is well and truly worthy of the title club legend.
But Lallana was more than that to Saints supporters, he was second only to Rickie Lambert at the time as a fans favourite, but perhaps most Saints supporters had that little bit more connection as he had joined the club aged just 12 and was truly one of our own in most fans eyes.
So although Rickie Lambert could have been said to have joined Liverpool at the same time with just as much indecent haste, it was seen by the St Mary's faithful as a player nearing the end of his career and joining his boyhood club, he was forgiven the day he left, if he was even blamed for it.
But with Adam it was different, it was almost the polar opposite, he was seen as deserting his boyhood club and very few were taking into account, that he was joining one of the biggest clubs in the world, for far more money and with a far better chance of playing in Europe and winning a trophy, add to that Saints were in turmoil and it really felt like an act of treason.
There can be no doubt that there is some substance that he did force the move soon, even saying he would leave the England training camp in Miami for the forthcoming World Cup for a medical, something that did not go down with the then England manager very well and perhaps cost him more game time in that tournament.
But leave he did and Southampton supporters were hurt, heartbroken and enraged in equal measures, even the players taking out a full page thank you to the fans in the Echo could not placate most of the fanbase, although it has to be said that most of the anger was soon re directed at Dejan Lovren.
So now it emerges that Adam Lallana could be about to make a shock return to St Mary's, the player himself hinted that this could indeed be the case in an interview with Sky Sports today and most of the national press seem to think that he is now in talks for a return to the club where he first made his name.
This is not a surprise, after all The Ugly Inside speculated just this back on the 14th May and now comes the news that the speculation back then now has some substance.
Personally I think that he could play some part if he did return, as I said in the previous article, although he has had some injury hit seasons and is now just turned 36, sometimes those who have missed injury are not as bruised and battered as those that played full seasons constantly, last season saw him play 25 times in the Premier League for Brighton and another 8 as an unused sub, he was only missing for 5 games in the league and also added another 5 games in other competitions.
In his four seasons at Brighton he has been virtually injury free for 3 seasons, only 2022/23 saw him struggle and he played only 16 times in the league.
So he could come to Southampton and do a job, OK it is not going to be the Adam Lallana who left 10 years ago, indeed I would only rarely see him as a starter, but he has been involved with the coaching at Brighton and perhaps is keen to build a career in that area, I would say that he has experience in the Premier League that we lack in both our squad and coaching staff, on a free transfer he is worth a punt.
But would Saints fans go for this ? Vote now in our online poll