Klopp hails ‘Liverpool legend’ Lovren on move to Zenit

The first departure from Liverpool’s championship side is not Adam Lallana, rather a center back.

Dejan Lovren has signed for Zenit St. Petersburg in Russia, putting an end to a seven-year Premier League career spent between Southampton and the Reds.

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The 31-year-old will reportedly net Liverpool around $14 million. He had one year remaining on his contract, and leaves Liverpool with a center back crop of Virgil van Dijk, Joe Gomez, and Joel Matip. The club has also has young Ki-Jana Hoever and Sepp van den Berg under contract and some versatile midfielders, but they will be buying depth.

Lovren has 57 caps for Croatia and was part of the 2018 World Cup runners-up. He’s won the French Cup, the Croatian Cup, the UEFA Champions League, Premier League and the top two league tiers in Croatia.

Here is part of a tribute from Jurgen Klopp on Liverpool’s web site:

“Another Liverpool legend who leaves the club, because he was absolutely a very, very important part of this team from the first day since I was in,” said Jurgen Klopp. “He had so many good games. ... A great player and a great person. Yesterday we said, ‘Who is now the best friend of Mo?’ because they were really real, real bezzies. They were really close and that’s the thing, we will miss him. He is a model athlete, has everything you need and now he goes to Russia, but he can come back always – he will be always welcome because he is a really nice guy.”

Thank you @LFC
It was a pleasure to be a part of this unforgettable journey.
Forever a red ❤️
YNWA https://t.co/dsp4fd2PDf

— Dejan Lovren (@Dejan06Lovren) July 27, 2020