Reports in the media are saying that Adam Lallana could return to Southampton suggesting that both player and the club are in favour of the move.
Rumours are doing the rounds that Adam Lallana could be about to leave Anfield and make the return journey to St Mary's.
Certainly at 31 and having struggled with injury his time on Merseyside seems to be coming to a natural end, tis season has seen him start only 5 times in the Premier League with another 8 appearances off the bench, he has not added much more in other competitions starting just 1 Champions League game and another 2 as sub failing to score in any of these games.
The previous season was not much better, he started just 1 league game and 11 off the bench, with only another 3 games in other competitions and again no goals.
That means that he has not scored in two years in any competition although in his defence he has barely played in that time and when he has has been in a side that his job would be to provide rather than score with both Salah & Mane providing the main goal threat.
This is not a good record in any terms though, so what would be attractive to Saints signing him ?
Firstly having only turned 31 a week or so ago he still has a couple of years left him in and is still a gifted player if fit, however the last two years don't offer any real hope that he can play any more games in the next two seasons than the last two.
It should also be said that his game isn't paced entirely on pace but more on skill and ability.
It could be a deal worth doing, but given his injury record and the fact that he has only a couple of years left at the truly top level and no resale value, it would have to be at the right price.
The price being quoted in the press is £13 million and I would say that is far too much given the risk involved with injuries.
Perhaps at half that price Saints might be interested in taking a punt, but any more than that would take a real chunk out of the transfer budget that could perhaps best be used elsewhere.
At this moment in time it is probably a rumour being spread by his agent, certainly Liverpool will be concentrating on the Champions League at present and would not be wanting to disrupt that preparation by getting involved in transfer talks with any of their players.
So if Liverpool do want to shift Lallana to Saints then they will have to drop the price or look to a club that could afford to take a punt at that price and I would say that the only clubs that would be in a position to do that on all aspects would be either Spurs or West Ham, although my outside bet would be a return to Bournemouth where he started in their academy and also played on loan from Saints.
Lallana's time at Liverpool has possibly not been the success that he had hoped, although injury has played a big part in that. 79 Premier League starts and 34 off the bench is not the record he would have hoped for with only 17 goals, although that can be tempered by an appearance in the Champions League final last season when he came off the bench for Mo Salah after only 30 minutes.
So if as it seems his career at Anfield is over, would Saints fans be ready to welcome him back, his departure was acrimonious at the time for two reasons, firstly in the way that it was done and all parties concerned including Saints played their part in that, Lallana leaving was not like Dejan Lovren who wanted out at the first opportunity at St Mary's, Lallana had turned down chances to leave before notably when we went down to League 1, so he had proved his loyalty and perhaps having played over 250 games for the club deserved his big money move.
If it had been handled better he should have left as a genuine Saints legend, after all the likes of Mick Channon and even Ricky Lambert departed with their reputations intact.
So Saints fans have to ask themselves two questions, firstly can they forgive him and secondly is he still good enough to play at the top level, most would say he is if injury free but that is the big question.
So what do you feel, would you welcome Adam Lallana back into the fold, give your views below and use the link to vote in the poll.
https://www.fansnetwork.co.uk/football/southampton/members/!/polls/2299/would-yo