Lallana a good fit for midfield (ESPN article)

by Dave Usher for ESPN

Pending a successful medical, Liverpool look to have finally captured their number one summer transfer target as Southampton skipper Adam Lallana closes in on a big money move to Anfield.

It's easy to see why Liverpool were so keen to bring the boyhood Evertonian on board. Lallana looks to be a perfect fit for the Reds; in fact he might be the most "Brendan Rodgers type player" in the Premier League. Technically excellent, hard-working, bags of flair, scores goals, makes goals, two-footed and extremely coachable... What's not to like? Well there is the small matter of the inflated 25 million pound price tag, but if Lallana proves to be a hit, then the fee will be quickly forgotten. Fans only ever dwell on transfer fees when the player doesn't perform.

I wrote a blog post several months ago on how I'd love to see Rodgers make a move for Lallana and his Southampton teammate Luke Shaw, but realistically Liverpool were not in any position to be paying close to 30 million pounds for an 18-year-old left back so Shaw was never an option. If left back was the only position of need then perhaps they could have provided some serious competition for Manchester United in the chase for Shaw, but with numerous other positions requiring strengthening this summer, the Reds needed a much cheaper alternative than the young England man.

For a time it looked as though Lallana would also prove to be too costly as Southampton rejected the Reds' opening gambits. The reported fee is high for a player who at 26 years of age has just two seasons of top-flight experience to his name, but Southampton were never going to allow their captain and star player to leave for anything less than top dollar. Liverpool have probably overpaid by several million pounds, but that was his value to Southampton and -- just like Liverpool with Luis Suarez last summer -- they held the cards.

Read the full article here.