Wednesday 20 January 2016 16:24, UK
George Burley has backed Adam Lallana to have a successful career at Liverpool under Jurgen Klopp.
Lallana, who came through the youth system at St Mary's alongside the likes of Theo Walcott and Gareth Bale, was handed his debut by Burley as an 18-year-old in 2006.
Burley told Sky Sports: "On the ball he is probably better than [Walcott and Bale], but he was a bit of a later developer than those two. I gave him his debut at Southampton but it took him a lot longer to establish himself in the first-team.
"He didn't have that physical prowess of Gareth or the pace of Theo but we always knew he was going to be a top class player when he reached 18 or 19 and that's exactly what happened.
"He was always a very clever player who would play between the lines or off a striker, he had very quick feet, and great vision."
Lallana joined Liverpool for £25m 18 months ago, and has since gone on to score eight goals in 69 games at Anfield. And Burley has backed him to have a successful career on Merseyside under Klopp.
"He's perfect for the way Liverpool want to play, because they'll want to get the ball down and they'll want to it to feet, and he can certainly do that," said Burley. "You can just ask Adam to go and play, whether it's left, right or behind the striker because he's clever on the ball.
"I could play him anywhere up front because he's not one who will just be good making runs forward or coming back. He wants the ball anywhere and he'll make things happen.
"I'm sure he will [be a success at Liverpool] as he's a smashing lad who was brought up the right way and came through Southampton's academy.
"He wants to learn and he works very hard on his game and I'm sure that will stand him in good stead for the rest of his career."
