Adam Lallana to Liverpool: Tottenham 'pull out of the running' for Southampton midfielder as Saints hold key to his future following final £25m Liverpool offer

Liverpool's move for Lallana has stalled in recent days but midfielder will not follow Mauricio Pochettino to White Hart Lane

Jack de Menezes
Monday 02 June 2014 13:25 BST
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Southampton midfielder Adam Lallana is a reported £20m target for Liverpool
Southampton midfielder Adam Lallana is a reported £20m target for Liverpool

Tottenham will not make a move for Southampton midfielder Adam Lallana, leaving the door open to Liverpool to sign the England international despite their £25m move stalling in recent days.

A number of Premier League clubs have been linked with a move for the 26-year-old with Liverpool and Spurs the frontrunners, but Sky Sports are reporting that the north London side have pulled out of the race to sign the highly-rated Lallana.

Despite the Reds making their intentions clear with an early move for Lallana, the appointment of former Southampton manager Mauricio Pochettino as Tom Sherwood’s replacement in the White Hart Lane dugout led to the belief that the Argentine could move to ensure Lallana followed him to the capital.

But reports suggest that Spurs will not make a move having spent over £100m last summer, and that now leaves Liverpool in the driver’s seat to land the Saints captain should they agree a fee with Saints.

It is believed that Liverpool, who already have a strong England core in the form of Steven Gerrard, Daniel Sturridge, Raheem Sterling, Jordan Henderson and Jon Flanagan, have made an improved final offer for Lallana thought to be around the £25m mark. Should the Saints hierarchy reject the offer, the Premier League runners-up are unlikely to make another offer.

The news comes after Rickie Lambert all but sealed his £4m plus add-ons switch to Liverpool, with an official announcement expected to come early this week. The striker, who will join Lallana in Brazil later this month for England’s World Cup campaign after the pair flew out to Miami yesterday as part of Roy Hodgson’s squad, could both ply their trade at Anfield next season.

Having started last season as a potential squad player for England, Lallana now looks a certainty to be in Hodgson’s starting line-up, and he impressed once more in his 73 minute appearance in the 3-0 win over Peru on Friday night.

But the fear over his move to Merseyside lies in the fact that Southampton want around £30m for his services, given that they must pay his former side Bournemouth a sizeable fee should they sell him.

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