Liverpool willing to let Lovren leave; now up to Croatian to decide if he wants to join Zenit and to agree personal terms
Friday 24 July 2020 14:11, UK
Dejan Lovren is close to joining Zenit St Petersberg from Liverpool for a fee of around £11m.
Liverpool signed Lovren from Southampton for £20m in July 2014 and he has since helped the club win both the Champions League and Premier League under Jurgen Klopp.
However, the 31-year-old has found his first-team opportunities limited in recent seasons, with Virgil van Dijk, Joe Gomez and Joel Matip largely preferred in central defence. This season he was limited to 15 appearances in all competitions.
Liverpool are willing to let Lovren leave and it is now up to Croatian international to decide if he wants to join Zenit and to agree personal terms with the Russian club.
Lovren has just one year remaining on his current deal at Anfield but Liverpool have an option to extend his contract for another season, if he remains at the club at the end of the summer transfer window.
Liverpool manager Klopp was reluctant to discuss Lovren's future when asked at his press conference ahead of the Premier League champions' final game of the season against Newcastle on Sunday.
"As long as nothing is decided we don't speak about these kind of things," Klopp said.
The German also refused to be drawn on whether Liverpool would look to sign an experienced centre-half to replace Lovren, should he depart this summer.
"If we don't speak about the potential departure of a player but we cannot speak about a replacement," Klopp added.
"That is the situation, if there is something to say then probably we will. You can read it or we will say something, but not at the moment."
In addition to Van Dijk, Matip and Gomez, Liverpool currently have Dutch teenagers Ki-Jana Hoever and Sepp van den Berg, who are both 18 years old, as options at the position.
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