Former Liverpool midfielder Adam Lallana has returned to Southampton on a free transfer after departing from Brighton.
The 36-year-old made 25 appearances for the Seagulls in the Premier League last season, even captaining them in his final match against Manchester United.
Lallana, a former England international, has signed a one-year deal with Saints.
This marks his comeback a decade after leaving for Liverpool, where he won both the Premier League and the Champions League.
Beginning his career in Southampton’s academy at the age of 12, Lallana made 265 appearances for the club, scoring 60 goals and providing 45 assists.
He played a crucial role in securing back-to-back promotions from League One to the Premier League under manager Nigel Adkins.
He also helped win the 2010 Johnstone’s Paint Trophy, scoring in the final at Wembley.
Lallana’s return to Southampton under manager Russell Martin marks the club’s first summer signing.
WHAT DID ADAM LALLANA SAY AFTER SIGNING A ONE-YEAR DEAL?
Adam Lallana has disclosed that news of his return to Southampton has generated considerable excitement among many of his former teammates from the Saints.
“I’m still in contact with quite a few of the boys,” he said.
“A lot of the boys have been texting me of late, asking ‘is the speculation true?’
“Am I going back home? Am I going back to Saints?
“Everyone seems pretty excited about it and no one more than myself and my family.
“It’s the icing on the cake that it’s where my wife and kids live, and where my parents and sister and all my family are, so that’s nice, but irrelevant of that I think it’s the opportunity in the football club as a whole, the people that are here and the feeling I got with Russell that really attracted me.
“I’ve got a good relationship with a few of the players as well.
“I know Taylor (Harwood-Bellis) well from the Under-21s, I know Sam Edozie, and I was here with Jack Stephens as well, so I’ve been in contact with a lot of the players and I’m pretty sure I’ll settle in fast.
“I’m experienced enough now with a wise head, so I should bed in relatively quickly.”
On his first spell at Southampton, Lallana added: “It gave me everything.
“It gave me the platform, it gave me the opportunity, it gave me a clear pathway.
“When the football club got relegated to League One and there was speculation I might have been leaving, I knew straightaway that I didn’t want to leave, I didn’t need to leave, and then I felt like I just grew with the football club.
“I grew with the football club in League One, in the Championship and all the way through to the Premier League.
“I felt my development mirrored the football club’s in the end.
“I’m so happy to come back and I still feel I’ve got a lot to give and help.
“It’s always been a wonderful football club, and a football club I’ve followed even when I’ve not been here.”
