As said further up the thread, club took a punt on a sicknote. Almost certainly on a pay-per-play contract. Ditto Lallana. If those guys had a history of clean bill of health, they'd be WAY out of our wage range. Bit dopey not to see that eh?
Club took a punt on both players varying degrees of sicknotedness. If they didn't have that stigma hanging over their head, they'd be playing elsewhere for twice the wages