Dejan Lovren (Southampton)

Liverpool are lovers of Lovren - but have made no bid for Southampton stopper yet

By Neil Jones

24-year-old Croatian international has emerged as the Reds' top defensive target as Reds eye double Saints swoop

Liverpool FC are interested in signing Dejan Lovren this summer – but are yet to table a formal offer for the Southampton defender.

The Croatian international has emerged as the Reds' top defensive target, as Brendan Rodgers looks to tighten up a backline which leaked 50 league goals last season.

Rodgers believes the 24-year-old would provide the strength and leadership qualities which the Ulsterman feels Liverpool lack, though the ECHO understands the Reds are yet to make a concrete bid at this stage.
 
Liverpool are already looking to sign another Southampton star, Adam Lallana , though that deal will have no impact on their pursuit of Lovren. Talks to bring Lallana to Anfield are still ongoing.

Lovren cost Saints £8.5m when joining from Lyon last summer, and enjoyed a stellar first season in the Premier League. He has experienced Champions League football during his time in France, which is another factor in his favour.
 
Rodgers is also monitoring Cardiff centre back Steven Caulker and is keen on Sevilla left-back Alberto Moreno, as revealed in the ECHO last week .

Ryan Bertrand and Guilherme Siqueira are potential back-up targets if a move for Moreno does not come off. Reports linking the Reds with Bayer Leverkusen midfielder Emre Can, however, are premature. The versatile Turk has been watched, but a move is not imminent.
 
Liverpool believe the fact Bayern Munich have a buy-back option on the 20-year-old would make any potential deal difficult, though they remain admirers.

http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/liverpool-fc-lovers-lovren---7137574
 

Personally would love to see him here.

He's got talent, at Dinamo Zagreb he was boss behind. He had authority, others fallowed his instructions and whit him in defense Dinamo didn't concede funny goals that followed after his departure to Lyon. But somehow in Lyon he could not find himself. supporters were blaming him for almost every goal and when he left Lyon to Southampton he was reborn. In Croatian squad he is standard starter and plays also very well. He even scored very important goal in qualifications. Besides good play whit head he's got very strong shoot and is quite good at free kicks - in that way similar to Luiz

But there is always risk how he will manage in new surrounding, but i believe he can be very useful. And if Croatia do well in WC his price will be going up.

Personally would love to see him here.

He's got talent, at Dinamo Zagreb he was boss behind. He had authority, others fallowed his instructions and whit him in defense Dinamo didn't concede funny goals that followed after his departure to Lyon. But somehow in Lyon he could not find himself. supporters were blaming him for almost every goal and when he left Lyon to Southampton he was reborn. In Croatian squad he is standard starter and plays also very well. He even scored very important goal in qualifications. Besides good play whit head he's got very strong shoot and is quite good at free kicks - in that way similar to Luiz

But there is always risk how he will manage in new surrounding, but i believe he can be very useful. And if Croatia do well in WC his price will be going up.

That's some decent background info on him, cheers.

My native club is Dinamo Zagreb and therefore follow players which move on from there 

My native club is Dinamo Zagreb and therefore follow players which move on from there 

You've just signed our youngster Armin Hodzic, any way you could find out if there's a buy back clause or even the terms of the sale would be nice.  There's very little press over here about it.

I'm gutted he's been sold, was really looking forward to seeing him play for us.

Unfortunately there is no info on a deal here also. Only thing that is known is his 5 year contract. Maybe the figures will somehow leek out in next couple of days (will post if there will be some info available). There is rummer that it was very cheap (under a million).

Problem is that we have very corrupt person which is leading the club (he is the same as north Korean dictator) and everything is done in secret and is not transparent. This person basically privatized club (club is organised as a Zagreb citizen association and there should be elections - something similar like Spanish clubs) to himself and is doing what he wants and nobody can't harm him (he is bribing everyone, from judges politicians, ....). He owns majority of players through third persons and is earning big bucks on transfers leaving club almost nothing.

That is also why supporters are boycotting the club and for years now there is empty stadium, even in CL

today news are reporting that transfer fee for Hodzic was 150.000 €. No buy back clause as he didn't receive work permit in first place, that is also the reason to let him go

today news are reporting that transfer fee for Hodzic was 150.000 €. No buy back clause as he didn't receive work permit in first place, that is also the reason to let him go

Thought that might be the reason mate, we've been trying for 3 years.  Absolutely gutted as this lad could be a fantastic player in the future.

All the best to him anyway.

Thought that might be the reason mate, we've been trying for 3 years.  Absolutely gutted as this lad could be a fantastic player in the future.

All the best to him anyway.

A buy back clause, when he qualifies for a permit, would have been perfect.
Pity, but we've seen this happen a few times.

A buy back clause, when he qualifies for a permit, would have been perfect.
Pity, but we've seen this happen a few times.

It would and we have mate.

My native club is Dinamo Zagreb and therefore follow players which move on from there 

Dobro doso prijatelju.

I ja Sam dinamovac ko I ti.

Pozdrav iz dal eke australije.

Evo ljepo vidit, da pored Dinama još volimo i Liverpool 

Pozdrav

Dakle, kako dobro mislite Lovren je?

Sorry, thought I'd give Google Translate a whirl

hehehe not bad translated.

for me Lovren is very good defender, but i can be subjective as he is Dinamo's kid 

Also he's got pretty good technique for a defender

MEGS! Lovren's skills leave Saints teammates ecstatic

He's a good centre half this lad, but they paid 8 and a half million squid for him so he wouldn't be cheap. My guess is he'd cost at least 2/3 of the reported fee for Lellana, and it would cause uproar on here if we went that high.

I think he's worth it, my only rider would be the question of whether or not we actually nene another centre half. I know we conceded goals for fun, but I think that was more a full back problem than it was a centre back one.

He is also left footed too to add to Sakho and Agger. I rate Lovren highly I was surprised how well he adopted to the PL he was basically ridicoloued and ousted out of Lyon the last 6 months of the season made some shocking errors too.

He is also left footed too to add to Sakho and Agger. I rate Lovren highly I was surprised how well he adopted to the PL he was basically ridicoloued and ousted out of Lyon the last 6 months of the season made some shocking errors too.

pretty sure he is right footed

I wouldn't say no to him, but the time to buy him was 12 months ago.  Now his fee will have doubled....

pretty sure he is right footed

he's good whit both. In Croatia played a left full back couple of times as this position is weakness of Croatia since Jarni times.

I wouldn't say no to him, but the time to buy him was 12 months ago.  Now his fee will have doubled....

But if he's going to strengthen us?

But if he's going to strengthen us?

There are loads of players out there who could strengthen us. We can't buy them all, obviously. So perhaps a little more prudence is needed (in the transfer market) before throwing out rhetorical questions like this, that are persuasive at best.

But if he's going to strengthen us?

If the real manager, Brendan Rogers wants him, rather than the armchair managers, that's all I'm worried about.

There are loads of players out there who could strengthen us. We can't buy them all, obviously. So perhaps a little more prudence is needed (in the transfer market) before throwing out rhetorical questions like this, that are persuasive at best.

Who the hell rattled your cage?

Of course there are loads of players that can strengthen us, obviously, but all I asked Harry is if he was the one Brendan wanted and he strengthened our team then how relevant, to us supporters, is that cost.

If the real manager, Brendan Rogers wants him, rather than the armchair managers, that's all I'm worried about.

Likewise.