Brighton midfielder Adam Lallana is reported to have been the player that had a huge bust-up with now former team-mate Leandro Trossard before his exit to Arsenal.
The Belgium international spent three-and-half-years on the south coast before upping sticks to the capital to ply his trade for the Gunners. While that is obviously a big step in Trossard’s career, he may harbour some regrets over the way his time at Brighton came to an end.
It became common knowledge that the 28-year-old winger had fallen out with new Seagulls boss Roberto De Zerbi, who told reporters that Trossard would not feature against Liverpool last weekend due to showing a poor attitude in training, but what was unknown was the extent of his fall-out with Lallana.
Eyebrows were raied over the pair’s relationship after Lallana’s comments on Trossard before the wide-man had actually seen his move to the Emirates confirmed. The former Southampton and Liverpool ace openly explained how Brighton will cope just fine without the forward in their ranks.
Lallana name-dropped some other recent notable departures from the Amex to highlight how Trossard’s exit shouldn’t rock the boat too much.
“You only need to look at the last three games without him [Trossard], I think it’s been 5-1, 4-1 and 3-0,” Lallana told Sky Sports. “So as I said to you earlier, players can leave Brighton but we’ve got enough without them.
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“We had enough without [Yves] Bissouma, [Marc] Cucurella, Ben White, Dan Burn, when Neal [Maupay] moved on. So if Leo moves on we’ll cope. We’re coping already.”
The comments can be looked at through a different lens once acknowledged that it was Lallana who had quite the training ground row with Trossard, though at the time many speculated It was actually Seagulls skipper Lewis Dunk.
It has been reported that the bust-up stemmed from the fact that Lallana wasn’t pleased with the level of unprofessionalism Trossard displayed after his clash with boss De Zerbi.
Despite the negative headlines surrounding Trossard, Mikel Arteta could barely contain his delight at landing the Belgian’s signature as he explained the Gunners had been keeping tabs on him for quite some time.
“I think he can have an immediate impact on the team. He’s a very intelligent player, he fits our way of playing for sure,” the Spaniard told reporters ahead of Sunday’s showdown with Manchester United.
“We are really happy to have him. He’s a player we followed for a while. The opportunity came and we had the necessity for a player in the front line who is versatile.”
