From talking about a Southampton player from yesteryear, let's move the conversation to one of the current crop. Those that know about these things realize that Adam Lallana has been performing at a high level for a number of seasons through League One and the Championship. The fact that he is performing at such a high level in the Premier League is no surprise to me. Lallana is now 25 years old and quickly establishing himself as one of the best attacking midfielders plying their trade in the EPL. He has so far provided three goals, two assists and an average rating of 7.24. It's a level of performance that Southampton fans will be hoping can continue until the end of the season. The player has been rightfully thought of in terms of the England squad, and it remains to be seen if he will yet get to the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. However, it's refreshing that he is getting the mention and attention that he deserves. What's clear is the Southampton academy is doing a great job at producing English players, and those players have proved to be good enough for the Premier League.
James Kent is a freelance writer published on Yahoo! Sports, Bleacher Report, FTBpro, Bloomberg Sports and many others. He has also been featured in the Daily Telegraph, Zoo Magazine, MSN Sport and the Manchester Evening News.
His role on What Culture is currently to produce compelling football articles that nearly always use of combination of stats and strong opinion. Feel free to connect with James via Facebook, Twitter and Google Plus.
