Saints have announced the details of a new contract for perhaps Saints best player.
Saints fans will be delighted this evening to learn that Adam Lallana has signed a new contract for 4 1/2 years with the club taking up to the summer of 2015 in what has to be a good statement of intent from Saints after a period of insecurity following the death of Markus Liebherr back in August.
Lallana whose contract was up this summer could have elected to start speaking to other clubs this month and leave in the summer, although as he was under the age of 24 Saints would have recieved a developement fee for him, if he had decided to do that although it would have been a big disapointment for Saints, Lallana has remained loyal during our bleakest period and could easily have left a couple of years ago, if he had decided it was time to go no one could accuse him of taking the money and run and he would have gone with the best wishes of every Saints supporter, now thats one less worry for us Saints fans.
Hopefully this will have an influence on Alex Oxlade Chamberlain who will see that you dont have to jump at the first offer available in order to further your career in the long term, compare Lallana' progress with that of a player of a similar age Theo Walcott, Walcott has started around half the number of League games that Lallana has, since leaving Saints, incredible as Lallana's days as a first team regular did not really start until two years after Walcott joined Arsenal.
OXo like Lallana comes from a decent family who have brought up their kids the right way and to chase success not money, as whilst achieving that success will usually mean the money coming in for a football player, getting paid big money at an early age doesnt always guarantee success in either the short or long term.