When Adam Lallana finishes playing, it is unlikely to be the end of his time with Brighton & Hove Albion.
There is a desire for the former Liverpool and England midfielder to remain at the club he joined in July 2020 on a free transfer once he eventually hangs up his boots.
The plans for Lallana are part of a well-established practice at Brighton to have a revolving group of ex-players at the club. If they are deemed to be a good fit, they are retained or head-hunted as coaches. The idea is to provide stability and role models who will inspire young players.
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When Bruno Saltor retired in 2019 after seven years as a Brighton player, the Spaniard joined the coaching staff of former head coach Graham Potter. Bruno had captained the club to promotion from the Championship and in their first two seasons in the Premier League.
In the same period, Andrew Crofts returned from a brief spell at Yeovil to become an over-age player and coach for the under-23s. Crofts had had two spells for the first team in League One in 2009-10 and in the Championship from 2012-16. Within two years the former Wales international midfielder was promoted to under-21s head coach.
Ben Roberts was already on the staff at that stage as goalkeeping coach. He had been the No 1 in Brighton’s promotion season from League One in 2003-04, having returned from Charlton in 2015.
Everywhere you look in the coaching groups at different levels, the pattern repeats. Gary Dicker rejoined in July 2021, initially as an over-age player and coach for the under-23s, after he was released by Kilmarnock. The Irish midfielder made more than 150 Brighton appearances in League One and the Championship between 2009 and 2013.
In June this year, Inigo Calderon returned from his boyhood club Alaves in Spain to become under-18s coach. He made more than 200 appearances for Brighton in the Championship and League One from 2010-16.
The first indication of a non-playing role for Lallana came when Potter left for Chelsea in September last year, taking Saltor, Roberts and three other members of his backroom team with him.
Lallana and Crofts were placed in caretaker charge of the first-team squad for the fortnight prior to Roberto De Zerbi’s appointment as Potter’s successor.
Crofts was subsequently promoted to De Zerbi’s coaching staff, providing a link between the club’s past, present and future. Dicker is now assistant to Crofts’ under-21s successor Shannon Ruth, having coached the under-18s before Calderon.
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Lallana, meanwhile, has continued to be a valued member of the first-team squad. Lallana and De Zerbi get on well. The Italian, speaking in February, said: “Adam helps not only me and the coaches but the young players. He’s important on the pitch and out of the pitch.”
The respect is mutual. Lallana told The Athletic in an interview in March that De Zerbi has “just made football (make) so much more sense to me since he’s been here.”
During the first international break of the season in September, Lallana took another significant step on the pathway to coaching. De Zerbi allowed him to team up with England’s under-21s, an idea arising from technical director David Weir’s close relationship with the national under-21s coach Lee Carsley. They were team-mates at Everton and a managerial combination when Weir was in charge of Sheffield United in League One for 13 matches in 2013.
Lallana, capped 34 times by England at senior level from 2013-18, relished his exposure to the national set-up in a player-coaching role in training. He worked closely with Carsley, assistant coach Ashley Cole and goalkeeping coach Tim Dittmer as the reigning European champions launched their 2025 qualifying campaign with a 3-0 win against Luxembourg.
Lallana described the experience as “amazing insight for me into what may lie in the future”. He added: “I had a great week with the players and staff. Lee made it very easy for me to settle in and feel comfortable. It’s a bit different going there as a player and then being more of a mentor, but the transition was pretty seamless because of the environment.
“I was involved in training and took a few little bits, just being that bridge between the coaches and the players. I am still playing in the Premier League so I will still experience the same things as those boys — frustrations, losing and winning as a player.
“When you’re young you want everything now — you can be impatient — so I can help in those areas while also getting an opportunity to see the blueprint of being a successful coach.”
Lallana returned to Brighton with a spring in his step, which showed in the 3-1 win that followed against Manchester United at Old Trafford. His influential contribution as the No 10 included an instinctive dummy for former England team-mate Danny Welbeck to open the scoring against his former club.
Dat Guy Welbz back in the goals at the place he used to call home! 💙 @DannyWelbeck 🎯 pic.twitter.com/SYcJ2y6mac
— Brighton & Hove Albion (@OfficialBHAFC) September 16, 2023
Those 64 minutes at Old Trafford have been the only start this season for Lallana, who turned 35 in May. The injury problems that have plagued him throughout his career have persisted, limiting him to 51 starts across his three full seasons at the Amex Stadium. His time on the pitch in the opening 11 games, including four substitute appearances, amounts to a total of 124 minutes.
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Even so, the value De Zerbi places on still having Lallana around as a player was highlighted by the club awarding him a new contract in March through to the end of the current campaign.
Lallana’s widely appreciated influence stretches beyond the pitch. An inside source, speaking on condition of being granted anonymity, says: “He offers a perspective on things, or he says something to somebody at a moment that you think is exactly the right time. It might be positive — that little bit of encouragement — and sometimes it’s not, it’s a bit of a telling-off. He does it without any kind of malice or sense of superiority. He’s got that way about him.”
Although Lallana spent six years at Liverpool, helping them to win the Champions League in 2018-19 and the Premier League the following season, his family roots are in the south of England.
Born in St Albans in Hertfordshire, Brighton are not his first club based on the south coast. He was at Bournemouth as a boy before eight years at Southampton, prior to moving north to Anfield in 2014.
That is another reason why staying after retiring will be appealing. The bond that has developed between Brighton and Lallana has enduring potential.
(Top photo: Mike Egerton/PA Images via Getty Images)
