Adam Lallana to undergo medical ahead of £25m move to Liverpool

Liverpool’s pursuit of Adam Lallana has finally paid off after Southampton accepted a £25m offer for their captain, who is poised to become the second player this summer to transfer from St Mary’s to Anfield, subject to a medical.

The Lallana deal was agreed only hours after the south coast club sold Luke Shaw to Manchester United for an initial £27m, and could be finalised over the weekend.


Lallana was subject of a final £25m bid from Liverpool before the World Cup, following Southampton’s rejection of an initial £20m offer, and Brendan Rodgers was prepared to consider alternative targets had the impasse not been broken by the end of this month. Southampton, who have already sold Rickie Lambert to Liverpool, had wanted closer to £30m due to a 25% sell-on fee payable to the 26-year-old’s former club Bournemouth.

However, Lallana’s return from England’s latest World Cup disappointment this week and determination to join Liverpool has helped push the transfer.

The midfielder travelled to Merseyside on Friday for a medical and to finalise personal terms. He had been linked with a reunion with former Southampton manager Mauricio Pochettino at Tottenham Hotspur but the boyhood Evertonian’s preference has always been for a move to Liverpool.

Rodgers had identified Lallana as a key transfer priority for this summer and the midfielder will follow Lambert plus Emre Can, the Bayer Leverkusen player who will complete his £9.75m arrival on 1 July, into a squad preparing for a return to the Champions League next season.