Liverpool legend John Barnes has urged the Reds to consider parting ways with in-demand centre back Dejan Lovren this summer.
Sky Sports reported earlier this month that Italian heavyweights AC Milan are interested in the 29-year-old, and Barnes believes the time may have come for him to leave if he wants first team football.
“With Joe Gomez coming back, if Lovren feels that he’s not going to be playing any more and he wants to play first-team football, fine,” he told The Sport Review. “I quite like him at Liverpool because of course, if players get injured, he can step in and do a good job.
“But players sometimes think to themselves that they want to play first-team football so therefore if he leaves, I’ll have every respect for him, rather than him just staying at Liverpool in the comfort zone. Maybe it is time for him to move on if that’s what he decides.”
OPINION
What Barnes is saying makes a lot of sense, here. Certainly if Lovren truly desires first team football then he probably does need to leave Liverpool this summer. It’s clear that both Joel Matip and Joe Gomez have usurped him in Jurgen Klopp’s centre back pecking order, and so a move to Milan would likely present him with an opportunity to play more than he would at Anfield moving forward. It’s not as if he’d be taking a massive step down, either. Yes, Milan just missed out on Champions League football this campaign, but they remain a European powerhouse and have their own version of Virgil van Dijk in Alessio Romagnoli. So Lovren would be joining a decent situation over in Serie A, and certainly one where he is more likely to get consistent first team football. As Barnes says, if he decides to choose that over the comfort of life at Liverpool then credit to him.
