Dejan Lovren ’s six year stay at Liverpool looks to be coming to an end with the Croatian reportedly on his way to Zenit St. Petersburg.
Discussions have been taking place for the past fortnight between the English and Russian champions and a deal is understood to be imminent.
Zenit will pay in the region of £11 million for the 31-year-old defender.
Dejan Lovren to Zenit St Petersburg for around £11million good business for all parties. At the age of 31, understandable that he wants to play more regularly. Been an up and down six years for him at #LFC but he leaves as a Premier League title winner.
— James Pearce (@JamesPearceLFC) July 24, 2020
Lovren has just one year remaining on his current deal at Anfield but Liverpool would have an option to extend his contract for another season, if he remains at the club at the end of the summer transfer window.
The Croatian has made 15 appearances for Jürgen Klopp’s team this season, including nine starts in the Premier League. Lovren’s most recent start came in the 3-0 defeat at Watford at the end of February.
In the last couple of years he has also been plagued by untimely injuries which have kept him out at key periods.
With Virgil van Dijk, Joe Gomez and Joël Matip all ahead of him in the pecking order, Lovren wanted to leave in search of more regular playing time.
Brendan Rodgers brought the defender to Merseyside from Southampton for £20m in 2014. Ironically, his replacement at St. Mary's was Van Dijk.
Lovren made 185 appearances in total and his time at Anfield was something of a rollercoaster.
He made many high-profile errors and became a scapegoat among Liverpool fans, but he also had spells of more consistent performances.
Perhaps the highlight of his time at Liverpool was the last-minute winner he scored against Borussia Dortmund in the Europa League in Klopp's first season at the club.
The Croatian international leaves having won both the Champions League and Premier League.
The sale of Lovren means that Liverpool may need to look into the market to sign a replacement.
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