Liverpool defender Dejan Lovren reportedly had one eye on the exit door at Anfield, as he now recognises that he’s fallen down the pecking order.
The Croatian centre half has been with the club for five years, since making the switch from Southampton, but Times’ journalist Paul Joyce says Roma are in the conversation with the Reds for him.
AS Roma in talks with Liverpool over transfer of Dejan Lovren. Deal possible and asking price around £15m now. Lovren recognises he’s fourth choice.
— paul joyce (@_pauljoyce) August 13, 2019
It’s understandable that Dejan would be interested in plying his trade elsewhere, if he’s going to be used as cover for Joel Matip and Joe Gomez from now on.
It’s a shame a decision appears to have been made in the 11th hour as Liverpool now are unable to dip into the market to find a suitable replacement, but I don’t think there’s much to worry about.
There are two big reasons why we needn’t get too anxious about losing our fourth choice centre back – and that’s Ki Jana Hoever and Sepp van den Berg.
The young Dutchmen proved they’re capable of mixing in with the senior lads during pre-season, and I’d trust them against the lowly teams of the Premier League and in the FA and League Cups.
Both teenagers enjoyed meteoric rises last season, van den Berg helping his team keep 12 clean sheets in 29 games and Ki Jana showing versatility to play across the back line.
Admittedly, I wouldn’t like to start either Hoever or Sepp against Manchester City or Arsenal, but Fabinho is also capable of playing in that position, and we have depth in midfield.
That being said, how about we give these lads the time of day? Let’s not forget Trent Alexander-Arnold was their age when he broke into the first team.
Hopefully we’ll be able to convince Lovren to swap outfits in January, instead of jumping ship now and leaving us with a hole in the squad, but it won’t be the end of the world if he departs this month.