Dejan Lovren is very much closing on a transfer to AS Roma, which would end his five-year Liverpool tenure, reports Calcio Mercato.
The Croatian central defender will cost the Italians roughly £23m, including add-ons, which is far more than the £15m we’ve repeatedly seen speculated [Mirror].
Many didn’t understand why we were so willing to weaken our defensive options for £15m, but £23m is a serious sum – especially for a fourth-choice centre-back aged 30.
Despite the fact Joel Matip and Joe Gomez are injury prone, it does seem too good an offer for us to turn down, in reality.
In Lovren’s place, we can use Fabinho as an emergency centre-back, and also have exceptional young Dutch duo Sepp van den Berg and Ki-Jana Hoever coming through the ranks.
In truth, we hope we don’t see them this season, as it’ll mean we’re in the midst of an injury crisis – but if Klopp trusts them implicitly to do the business – perhaps we should too.