Former Liverpool midfielder Adam Lallana has announced his retirement from football as a player.

The Englishman spent six years at Anfield after being signed from Southampton during the summer of 2014 – and he was an important figure during a period of initial progress and later success for the club.

His maiden campaign with the Reds came under Brendan Rodgers and included 41 appearances and six goals, though Lallana’s impact grew further following the appointment of Jürgen Klopp as manager in October 2015.

Lallana’s combination of superlative work-rate, pressing nous and natural ability on the ball made him an ideal component of Klopp’s style.

After Liverpool were runners-up in both the League Cup and Europa League during Klopp’s first campaign in charge, Lallana was pivotal to the regaining of Champions League qualification in 2016-17, contributing eight goals and seven assists in the league.

Injury misfortunes would prevent the No.20 from featuring and shining so regularly in the seasons that followed, when the Reds climbed to the heights of successive European Cup final appearances in 2018 and 2019.

A first-half introduction in the defeat by Real Madrid in Kyiv the first time, Lallana was then on the bench a year later as he and his teammates lifted the trophy courtesy of a 2-0 win over Tottenham Hotspur.

The 2019-20 campaign was his memorable swansong for Liverpool. It began with a UEFA Super Cup victory, included a FIFA Club World Cup triumph and ended with a Premier League winner’s medal.

Lallana featured 15 times in the top flight that term as Klopp’s men ended the club’s 30-year wait for a league title by totalling 99 points – and his personal highlight was a late equaliser at Old Trafford that ensured the Reds’ unbeaten start was maintained.

When that season – prolonged due to the COVID-19 pandemic – concluded, he bid farewell to Anfield, his final statistics showing 178 Liverpool appearances and 22 goals.

He moved back to the south coast and joined Brighton & Hove Albion, for whom he would go on to make 104 appearances and score four times before departing in 2024.

Then, last year, Lallana returned to Southampton for what would prove to be his final season as a professional player.

During his first spell at St Mary’s he had been a star performer amid a memorable rise from League One back to the Premier League, with his overall Saints numbers including almost 300 matches and 60 goals.

Lallana was also capped on 34 occasions at senior level by England, scoring three times.

Now, aged 37, he has decided to bring an end to his playing career – and everyone at LFC wishes Adam and his family the best for the future. (LFC)