Lovren wants holiday after COVID-19’s end: ‘We need time off’ to ‘recover mentally’

Dejan Lovren has spoken about the psychological and physical implications being in quarantine has had on footballers and himself.

In comments we think might receive some negative backlash – as often with the Croat’s interviews – Lovren has explained how he’ll need time off this summer at some point before next season – and that the current ‘break’ shouldn’t count as a holiday.

He is being paid hundreds of thousands every week to stay at his mansion, so we think the comments are a little insensitive to the national situation – although his intentions are not in any way bad and he’s just explaining his personal situation.

“It hasn’t been easy as we have been locked up in our homes for 46 days now,” Lovren told Croatian newspaper Sportske Novisti, cited in Sky Sports.

“The psychological aspect is the most difficult to overcome. I work out on my own as much as I can, I kick the ball around a bit with my son on our lawn, but training with the team is totally different.

“I try to stay motivated any way I can. I get up in the morning and tell myself ‘I am going to get knackered in training today’ and at least I’ve managed to lose some weight,” added Lovren.

“I hope Aleksander Ceferin and all the other people from UEFA and FIFA will come up with a solution so that we don’t get into a situation of having to play 15 games in 30 days,” he added.

“We need time off. This hasn’t really been time off because the players will need to recover mentally from the pandemic and the resultant quarantine.”

Lovren’s future at Liverpool is uncertain, as he’s currently fourth-choice in the pecking order and in his thirties.

As a result, he’d perhaps like a switch to play more minutes, and there’ll be no shortage of suitors for a player who’s played in a World Cup Final and a Champions League Final.

But COVID-19 is likely to have a big impact on the transfer market, and it might be the case that Liverpool chose to keep hold of him and offload in the future when the state of football is more certain.