Former Liverpool star claims that Arne Slot’s side ‘miss me more than I miss them’
Former Liverpool centre-back Dejan Lovren claims the club are more in need of him rather than the other way round.
Lovren played 185 times for the Reds, lifting both the Champions League and Premier League under ex-boss Jurgen Klopp.
Speaking to Russian outlet Sport Express, Lovren said: “No, I don’t regret [leaving]. My decision in the summer was firm – but to leave Liverpool, I do not look back.”
He continued: “I got upset [in the] last season when I didn’t play, but now everything is different. I think Liverpool miss me more than I miss them, and Jurgen Klopp knows this, because we communicate.”
Now you maybe quick to dismiss and brush off Lovren’s claims, though he did play a part in Klopp’s two main triumphs, having won Europe’s elite competition, as well as ending a 30-year wait of lifting the title, a feat legendary Liverpool players such as Steven Gerrard and Xabi Alonso failed to achieve in their time at the club.
Before departing Liverpool for Russian side Zenit St. Petersburg, Lovren had fallen down the pecking order, behind Joel Matip and Joe Gomez.
Lovren also admitted to keeping in contact with his former manager.
He revealed: “He [Klopp] wrote recently: ‘We miss you.’ I spoke with Jurgen [after I left], but I will not disclose details. Jurgen said only good things and wished him luck.”
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Since Lovren’s departure, the Reds finished in third, second, fifth and third, so we’re not particularly sure how big of a miss Lovren really has been to Liverpool.
Lovren was signed by Brendan Rodgers in the summer of 2014, when the Merseyside club completed a triple signing from Southampton, bringing in Adam Lallana and Rickie Lambert.
The Saints enjoyed a fruitful period in the Premier League at the time, hence the demand of their star players, though the trio failed to hit the heights that many expected of them, similar to Frenchman Morgan Schneiderlin who’d also departed the South Coast club for Liverpool’s arch rivals Manchester United.
New Liverpool boss Arne Slot’s current centre back options are Van Dijk, Gomez, Ibrahima Konate and youngster Jarell Quansah, a quartet which Slot seems to be pleased with considering they have only lost one game in five this season.
Both the skipper, Van Dijk, and Konate found themselves on the scoresheet on Tuesday night as Liverpool started their 2024/25 Champions League campaign in a cruising 3-1 win vs AC Milan at the San Sire.
