On Deadline Day it was revealed that Liverpool and England striker Rickie Lambert turned down a move to Aston Villa.
The 32-year-old striker, who has started just five times in the Premier League for Liverpool this season after arriving from Southampton in the summer, was reportedly given the chance to join Villa after the two clubs agreed a $7.5 million fee.
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Liverpool only paid Southampton $6 million for Lambert in the summer when he returned from the World Cup with England, and the journeyman striker has failed to make a huge impact at Anfield over the past six months.
Scoring just three goals in 24 appearances for his hometown club, it has not been the homecoming Lambert had hoped for. Should he have got out and signed for Villa to play regularly but be involved in a relegation scrap? Or was Lambert right to stick it out with the club he supports as they try to crack the top four and go far in the FA Cup and Europa League?
Regular soccer should have been the answer for Lambert as his plan to stay in the England squad look to be diminishing each and every week with the emergence of Harry Kane, Danny Ings plus the return to fitness of Andy Carroll. But you can’t begrudge him a longer stay at Liverpool after working for over 15 years to return to the club he loved and was released by as a schoolboy.
In the video above our analysts break down Lambert’s decision to remain at Liverpool, after the man who scored 117 goals for Southampton turned down Villa on Deadline Day.