Zenit interested in Lovren

Zenit St Petersburg are interested in signing Dejan Lovren from Liverpool this summer, according to Paul Joyce of The Times.

Zenit St Petersburg interested in signing Liverpool’s Dejan Lovren.

— paul joyce (@_pauljoyce) July 12, 2020

The Croatia international arrived to Anfield as a part of the three-man contingent from Southampton in 2014, together with midfielder Adam Lallana, and striker Rickie Lambert who has retired since. Lovren has been in and out of the team under Jurgen Klopp, but he has fallen down the pecking order more notably in the last two seasons, eventually becoming fourth-choice centre-back behind Virgil van Dijk, Joe Gomez and Joel Matip. This season he has managed to book no more than 15 appearances in all competitions for the Premier League champions.

Last summer, the 31-year-old was targeted by AS Roma and AC Milan, but neither club met Liverpool’s demands and after a conversation with Klopp, Lovren decided against pursuing other options and stayed put.

Now, however, Liverpool have young players coming through the ranks in Ki-Jana Hoever and Sepp van der Berg who could potentially compete for that fourth centre-back spot in the squad, which means they could allow Lovren to leave now in order to avoid losing him for free next summer, when his contract expires.