Liverpool transfer news: Dejan Lovren set to depart Premier League champions following £10.9m bid from Zenit St Petersburg
Liverpool defender Dejan Lovren is close to completing a £10.9million move to Zenit St Petersburg, according to reports.
The Croatia international has spent six seasons at Anfield but has made just 15 appearances this season, falling to fourth-choice centre-back in the pecking order behind Virgil van Dijk, Joe Gomez and Joel Matip.
Lovren was set to enter the final year of his contract and, although Liverpool have an option to extend that by a further 12 months, the 31-year-old looks set to move on to pastures new in a bid to secure regular first-team football.
After last summer's Champions League success, Lovren was linked with a summer move but opted to stay despite him no longer being first choice.
In the last couple of years he has been plagued by untimely and niggly injuries which have kept him out at key periods.
Lovren last started a match in February, Liverpool's first league defeat of the campaign at Watford, and his longest consecutive run of games this season is four back in December.
He's faced regular criticism from fans over his performances, too, and yet is set to leave the club as a Champions League and Premier League winner, and not forgetting a World Cup finalist with Croatia.
And fans have wished him well on social media after another brilliant business by the club, getting more than £10m for a 31-year-old, fourth choice centre-back with just one year left on his contract.
Meanwhile, Jurgen Klopp had said the Premier League champions will only spend this summer for the right reasons, with the club's spending set to be reduced due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The Reds have been heavily linked to the likes of Bayern Munich midfielder Thiago Alcantara and Lille striker Victor Osimhen, but Klopp says he is more than content with the current squad at his disposal.
However, the sale of Lovren and a number of their other fringe players this summer could raise some funds for at least one top arrival.
The German boss said: “I am happy with my squad, 100 per cent. I was last year when people wanted us to sign him and him but because of our reasons we did not do it.
“It’s not that we don’t want to, we try to make the right decisions constantly and then COVID-19 came. The situation changed and not for the better.
“It’s not that we think we cannot improve with transfers, we do what is right for us and what we are able to do, that’s all.
“If other teams invest I have no idea, they may know more about the future, I don’t know."
“But the main difference between us and other teams this year was consistency.
"You saw how tight the game was against Chelsea when we won 2-1 I think [earlier this season], but they are 25 points or so behind us.
“However, these are not the gaps you see on the pitch. They can really play football and they could have won that match, but my boys were resilient like mad.
“We put absolutely everything into the game and that’s what the difference was.”
The 2020 summer transfer window will officially open next Monday for a 10-week period.