Rumour: Southampton hold out on Adam Lallana future after improved Liverpool bid of £25m

Brendan Rodgers wants Lallana

Southampton are staying strong in their attempts to keep their club captain Adam Lallana after Liverpool made an improved bid of £25 million, according to the Daily Echo.

Liverpool are attempting to tie the deal up before the World Cup starts in under two weeks and sent the south coast club an improved offer by £5m last night to try and tempt their hand to sell their star player.

Lallana was superb for Southampton last season. Brendan Rodgers sees him as one of his top targets and is willing to pay the price to take him to Anfield. Liverpool had originally bid £20m for Lallana but it seems that was rejected as the Saints hope to delay the transfer for as long as possible.

It is understood that their latest approach for Lallana is their final one and are prepared to walk away if the club stand firm on their intentions to keep Lallana. If there is no deal before the World Cup, Liverpool will walk away and pursue other targets they have lined up. One of those players rumoured is Bayern Munich’s Xherdan Shaqiri who would probably cost a lot less than Lallana.

The club want to put transfer dealings on hold until a new manager is appointed following Mauricio Pochettino’s departure to Tottenham, who are also expected to kick up an interest in Lallana at some stage this summer.

Despite that, Rickie Lambert is set to complete his move to Liverpool this weekend after taking his medical with the club’s medical staff this morning. He will be announced on Monday and will cost the Reds £4m.