According to the Express’ Paul Joyce, Adam Lallana will be offered a new contract after a stunning start to the 2016/17 season.
The former Southampton skipper has made a blistering start to the 2016/17 season, scoring goals for both club and country. His goal against Slovakia was his first for England and has, seemingly, set the tone for how he will be going about business this season.
Lallana kicked off his season with a well-taken goal against Arsenal and followed it up two games later with a scorcher against Claudio Ranieri’s Leicester. His splendid displays have not gone amiss by the club’s hierarchy and his representatives will be contacted by the end of the year, according to Paul Joyce, to discuss a new deal.
The end of the new year?
This is what FSG do. They did it with Steven Gerrard and Raheem Sterling, and now they’re doing it again with Adam Lallana. They take their time negotiating new contracts with players and, especially in Gerrard’s case, it can make for tenuous discussions.
While I don’t think that Lallana will leave anytime soon, I don’t understand the thought behind not negotiating new deals in a timely fashion. There may be external forces at play that determine when the club has people available, but a club of Liverpool’s magnitude must surely have enough men on the ground to conduct business in a manner which doesn’t drag on.
MORE LIVERPOOL STORIES
A couple months back, we were hearing that Emre Can was going to be offered a new deal. What’s happened on that front? This may just be me prattling on, but in the past players have gone from being content with life in Liverpool to wanting moves away. Even Steven Gerrard, a living legend, couldn’t stand the way FSG went about handling his contract.
Paul Joyce reports that Lallana’s current deal, which runs out in 2019, will be lengthened in order to keep the England international at the club for the long term. With that in mind, would it not be better to do it sooner rather than later?