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Change of heart at AC Milan could be blessing in disguise

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Image for Change of heart at AC Milan could be blessing in disguise

OPINION

There are some footballers out there who fans of that club just love to hate – and Liverpool supporters are no different.

There might be one atrocious performance that sticks out in the minds of fans or perhaps a culmination of average displays has led to that one particular individual coming under fire.

At Liverpool, that man is Dejan Lovren – the Croatian international at the top of very few of the Anfield faithful’s favourite player lists.

Admittedly he has not always been firing on all cylinders and when compared to the likes of Virgil van Dijk, the world’s most expensive defender, he is always going to come off second best.

That is why Liverpool fans might have had a little flutter in their hearts when Lovren was linked with a move away from Anfield by Sky Sports, AC Milan the interested party – but it appears as though the Italian giants might well have had a change of heart.

Calcio Mercato report that Stuttgart’s Ozan Kabak is seen as a cheaper option than the Liverpool man by the Serie A outfit, with a €15million release clause in the 19-year-old’s contract, and that they want to pay up and get him on board.

For some of the Liverpool faithful, this will be a disappointment – but it could be a blessing in disguise for the Reds.

While comparing him to van Dijk leads to just one winner, his statistics compared to the other men tasked with lining up alongside the Dutchman – Joe Gomez and Joel Matip – tell another story.

He had the least amount of minutes handed to him in the Premier League but still had comparable defensive stats to his name, with a similar amount of tackles on average per game, less fouls conceded, more offsides against the opposition, more clearances and more blocks.

His passing performances were perhaps the most impressive element of his game, topping both Matip and Gomez in terms of passes per game – his average of 63.2 over 10 more than the English defender with a success rate within one per cent of the other two.

Add to that the most successful long balls and you have a player who is capable of both playing it on the ground as well as picking out passes to launch quick counter attacks.

If that fails to convince, then his aerial dominance should tip the scales with 4.1 successful duels in the air per game – over two more than Gomez and one more than the towering colossus that is Matip.

Replacing an international centre back is no easy task and Lovren proved last season that he has the ability to fill in when need be. He might not be everyone’s cup of tea but losing him could be a bigger blow than fans might think.

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