Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp blocked a loan exit from the club for centre back Dejan Lovren this summer, according to the Daily Mirror.
The newspaper claims that the Reds boss said no to the Croatian international, who has made 170 appearances from the club [Source: Transfermarkt], leaving on a temporary deal.
Italian heavyweights Roma and AC Milan were both interested in signing the 30-year-old, as were Bundesliga giants Bayer Leverkusen. However, Klopp didn’t fancy a loan exit.
Instead, the German would have allowed Lovren to leave on a permanent basis, as long as he received at least £15million for him.
OPINION
The £15million line sounds contrary to what we have heard about Lovren potentially leaving in the summer before now. The Times journalist Paul Joyce claimed that it would take at least £25million for Klopp to consider offloading the defender, so there’s a clear discrepancy between his report and that of the Mirror. Still, either way, it seems that the Liverpool boss didn’t want to lose Lovren necessarily, but would have done were he to receive a big offer for him. However, it seems like the interested parties all wanted loan deals instead, a point proven by Roma’s temporary swoop for Manchester United centre half Chris Smalling. At the end of the day, the former Southampton defender is now in his thirties and has dropped to fourth choice centre back at Anfield. Yet he is still a solid squad player and a good guy to have around the group. For that reason, then, it appears he will be staying on Merseyside for the foreseeable future.
