Liverpool are reportedly planning a summer move for Southampton defender Dejan Lovren, a player linked with the Reds many times in the past.
According to The Guardian today:
"Liverpool [will] capitalise on the uncertainty at St Mary's by making an offer for defender Dejan Lovren"
According to The Mirror, that offer will be around the £20m mark, but given the fact Lovren cost only £8.5 last summer, that's probably an exaggerated figure.
Liverpool reportedly made a €16m bid for the defender in May 2012, and responding to LFC's interest at the time, Lovren said,
"Every player wants to join a big club, but anything can happen"
Southampton is a great club that's clearly going places, but it's not really a 'big' club in the traditional sense of the word, and with Liverpool now in the Champions League, I'm sure a move to Anfield will be massively appealing for the Lovren.
As I argued last summer - and several times this season - Liverpool should've signed Lovren instead of Sakho. When it comes to stats, there's no much separating them, but Lovren is arguably a more confident, assured central defender, and - importantly - he is a real leader on the pitch, something that's desperately needed at Liverpool (Plus, he would've been 50% cheaper!).
Lovren vs. Sakho this season: (PG = per game)
* Passing Accuracy: MS 92.4% | DL 82.1%
* Duels won: MS 58.8% | DL 62.9%
* Aerial Duels Won: MS 56.5% | DL 60.8%
* Recoveries: MS 6PG | DL 6PG
* Tackles Won: MS 92.6% | DL 78.7%
* Clearances: MS 7.5 PG | DL 7.7PG
* Interceptions: MS 0.8PG | DL 2.7PG
Additionally, Southampton:
* Conceded fewer league goals.
* Achieved 5 more clean sheets overall.
Man United legend Gary Neville is a fan of Lovren - nicknamed the 'Animal' by his Southampton team-mates - and in a recent column for Sky Sports, he raved:
"For me, he [Lovren] is the one I've been most impressed with. He's been absolutely brilliant the way he's marshalled that back four".
Can the same be said of Sakho? Defensively and offensively, Martin Skrtel had a fantastic season, but he also lacks the organisation/leadership skills needed by the Reds. Ditto Agger.
A better option than Steven Caulker?
Author: Jaimie K
According to The Guardian today:
"Liverpool [will] capitalise on the uncertainty at St Mary's by making an offer for defender Dejan Lovren"
According to The Mirror, that offer will be around the £20m mark, but given the fact Lovren cost only £8.5 last summer, that's probably an exaggerated figure.
Liverpool reportedly made a €16m bid for the defender in May 2012, and responding to LFC's interest at the time, Lovren said,
"Every player wants to join a big club, but anything can happen"
Southampton is a great club that's clearly going places, but it's not really a 'big' club in the traditional sense of the word, and with Liverpool now in the Champions League, I'm sure a move to Anfield will be massively appealing for the Lovren.
As I argued last summer - and several times this season - Liverpool should've signed Lovren instead of Sakho. When it comes to stats, there's no much separating them, but Lovren is arguably a more confident, assured central defender, and - importantly - he is a real leader on the pitch, something that's desperately needed at Liverpool (Plus, he would've been 50% cheaper!).
Lovren vs. Sakho this season: (PG = per game)
* Passing Accuracy: MS 92.4% | DL 82.1%
* Duels won: MS 58.8% | DL 62.9%
* Aerial Duels Won: MS 56.5% | DL 60.8%
* Recoveries: MS 6PG | DL 6PG
* Tackles Won: MS 92.6% | DL 78.7%
* Clearances: MS 7.5 PG | DL 7.7PG
* Interceptions: MS 0.8PG | DL 2.7PG
Additionally, Southampton:
* Conceded fewer league goals.
* Achieved 5 more clean sheets overall.
Man United legend Gary Neville is a fan of Lovren - nicknamed the 'Animal' by his Southampton team-mates - and in a recent column for Sky Sports, he raved:
"For me, he [Lovren] is the one I've been most impressed with. He's been absolutely brilliant the way he's marshalled that back four".
Can the same be said of Sakho? Defensively and offensively, Martin Skrtel had a fantastic season, but he also lacks the organisation/leadership skills needed by the Reds. Ditto Agger.
A better option than Steven Caulker?
Author: Jaimie K
Yet even more speculative bullshit LFC transfer reporting. This month 26 players to date. Last month 52 players. Why don't these feature writers acknowledge they don't have a clue who BR is tracking and just wait until LFC confirm who they have signed.
ReplyDeleteBecause it sells.
ReplyDeletebefore buying central defender we should sell some. I'd look first at a full-back who can actually defend to replace Johnson... and attack actually (or put Flanagan on the right and buy a left-back).
ReplyDeleteI'm all for buying 1 offensive player but we should be looking at a central midfielder (lucas doesn't seem to fit in the system and Allen not good enough for the first team), don't want to have an unbalanced team with too much offensive player on the team.
These stories are worrying. £40M for these two players? I hope we can spend our budget better than this.... Lallana as good as he is....£20M is too high a price. One good season in the league doesn't constitute this fee. And Southampton want more I read. Lovren is another who's had one good season here. Done ok in France but really, £20M also?
ReplyDeleteRakitic instead od Lallana. We don't need anymore CD.
ReplyDeletethis guy can play come and get on our current defenders and i think it was sakho 1st season and i hope he can be better so skrtel may be benched and lovren may start i hope
ReplyDeletei suggest ashley cole or equivalent ... and de jonge as DM
ReplyDeleteB Rodgers needs to ship out these dead wood or injury prone defensive players this summer:
ReplyDeleteGK: B Jones(31) CB: K Toure(33) CB: S Coates(23)
RB: M Kelly(23) DM: L Leiva(27)
And these 5 class quality mobile solid tough Defensive players should be brought to club to replace them:
1: GK: A Mccarthy(24) Of Reading Or M Vorm(30) Of Swansea for £4-£7M
2: CB: D Lovren(24) Of Southampton for £12-£17M
3: CB: S Caulker(22) Of Cardiff for £5-£7M
4: LB: B Davies(20) Of Swansea for £4-£7M
5: DM: Y M'Vila(23) Of Rubin Kazan for £8-£10M
Those 5 Defensive players at top need to be shipped out and the 5 defensive players just above need to be brought in this summer.
Try, try, one day BR might just see it.
ReplyDeleteLovren would be an excellent signing, we need a leader. Fingers crossed we can sign him, and fingers crossed Sakho scores some late winners in World Cup and Monaco make us a silly offer.
ReplyDeleteLallana needs to force his exit our we should just move on. If reports are to be believed, we have offered £20 million, and are being quoted 50% more even though they're isn't yet any other publicised official interest. I think he would be immense for us, but with CL, we are now an even more desirable destination, so be needs to grab his chance NOW.
Also, we won't receive a fee for Kilo. Just dump him now.
Coates, let's see how he gets on in World Cup. Too early to dismiss him yet.
Anyone else wondering wat coates mite offer us? This is a guy who hasn't really played or trained under br, and is going to the world's chip! I admit I'm not optimistic but have a funny feeling an odd squad member might impress us/ embarrass us this time out
ReplyDeleteWe need to sain thes players
ReplyDeleteBony 10 milion + aspes
Lalana. 15 + alberto
Shaqiri. 12.5 milion
Konoplyanka. 12.5 milion
Rodriguez left buck. 15 milion
Colker or lovran 12-15 milion
One good diffence milfilder
And sell
Lucas 10 milion
Ager. 10 milion
Baroni 8 milion
Suso 5-8 milion
I agree I dont think any decision should be made on him until after the World Cup. At the very least he might increase his value.
ReplyDeleteB Rodgers must be after real class and quality this summer as i have been saying for few months now Lovren(24) should be brought to club from southampton for £12-£16M and the last two days re mentioned this.
ReplyDeleteRodgers has to ship out these 13 players : And bring in £40-£55M
GK: B Jones(32) GK: P Reina(31)
CB: S Coates(23) RB: M Kelly(23) CB: K Toure(33)
DM: L Leiva(27) CM: J Allen(24) AM: L Alberto(21)
RW: O Assaidi(25) FD: I Aspas(26) FD: F Borini(22)
And the two clown loan signings: LB: A Cissoho(27)
LW: V Moses(22)
And these 6 Defensive players and 4 attacking players
should replace the 13 above:
Six/ 6 Attacking players: GK 2 CB'S RB LB and a DM
1:GK:D Marshall Of Cardiff(29) for £5-£7M
2: CB: D Lovren(24) Of Southampton for £12-£16M
3: CB: S Caulker(22) Of Cardiff for £5-£7M
4: RB: N Clyne(23) Of Southampton for £5-£8M
5: LB: B Davies(20) Of Swansea for £4-£7M
Four/ 4 Class, creative mobile quality attacking players: CM AM LW FD
7: CM: I Rakitic(25) Of Seville for £18-£23M
8: AM: A Lallana(26) Of Southampton for £18-£22M
9: LW: Y Konoplyanka(25) Of Dnipro for £14-£16M
10: FD: W Bony(25) Of Swansea for £10-£15M
I think the plan maybe to partener Lovren and Sakho they would make a good pairing.
ReplyDeleteproblem with our defense is not ability but leadership.None among the GK and CD are vocal enough. Btw u plan to pair up Lovren and Sakho? Your plan is brilliant except for the fact that you are replacing our best defender this season with a newbie and defender with best techniques with a 18 mil flop
ReplyDeleteWhy nobody is talking about jan vertonghen ?
ReplyDeleteThis would be a good move. Actually, it's the move we should have made last season rather than wasting cash on Sakho.
ReplyDeletemy thought exactly.
ReplyDeleteprobably because spuds have a mad owner
Yeah, talk about flogging a dead horse,,,
ReplyDeleteLovren will be decent, perhaps M'Vila
Is it fair to judge a player on their first season?
ReplyDeleteWhoa there relax. Konoplyanaka, davies, caulker and clyne are not good enough. the others are fine but bony will cost around 25m
ReplyDeleteid like to see de sciglio, alberto moreno and griezmann really. BTW, Reus would be a dream.
The thing that everyone has ignored is that Lovren is right footed and plays at RIGHT CB for Southampton.
ReplyDeleteWe signed Sakho who is left footed but can play RIGHT and LEFT CB.
If we had to sign Lovren are we going to play him at LEFT CB?
or does that mean we are going to move Skrtel to LEFT CB and see him fail miserably.
Think people!!!
You can have a perfectly working CB pairing with both players being right footed. Vidic and Ferdinand are both right footed. So are Terry and Ricardo Carvalho. So are Kompany and DeMichellis
ReplyDeleteWell it was Lovren's first season too. So yes.
ReplyDeleteHave you ever seen Skrtel play at LCB for LFC? I am pretty sure this has been tried in training and maybe it did not work. Skrtel was tried at Right back under Dalglish and he was a complete mess. Take him out of his comfort zone and he will fail. Rodgers could have easily played Toure at RCB and Skrtel at LCB. Clearly their is a reason why he chose to go with Toure at LCB.
ReplyDeleteSo? Lovren can play closest to the left back and Skrtel plays closest to the right back...
ReplyDeleteSee, if we are going to sign a commanding CB then I would think it would be to replace either Skrtel or Agger who are nearing the age of 30.
ReplyDeleteWhat do you mean 'think'?! Most teams have two right-footed centre-backs, so your point is irrelevant.
ReplyDeleteOf course many teams have have right footed CB's playing at LCB but that does not mean all right footed CB's can play at LCB.
ReplyDeleteThe majority of LCB's in world football are right-footed, so clearly, most can play at LCB. It's not an issue. You're trying to make it an issue because you want Sakho to play there.
ReplyDeleteYes one of the first people making sense. Rakitic should be our first priority target. He can play CM or behind the striker as CAM. Then firmino or koke, they are all coutinho type players who can play anywhere along the midfield or forward line plus they all have strong defensive contributions in a game which a big advantage as they all run back and reduce the stress on our actual back 4 who clearly cant defend by themselves. Please BR do not waste money on attacking players who dont defend or track back. He has promised about 6 new signings. So apart from rakitic and firmino/koke which has to be a must signing, we could use a new purely DM player to replace Lucas, a right back, and a left back, and possibly a better number 2 keeper?
ReplyDelete50 league goals conceded suggests we do
ReplyDeleteNo, that is what you are saying. I merely pointed out that we signed Sakho to play at LCB but can also play RCB as seen from his days at PSG.
ReplyDeleteIt is like me saying some fans just do not want to see Sakho succeed when he has only had one season at the club. I bet Skrtel was ripping up the pitch ion his first season now wasn't he?
Why would we sign Lovren to play at LCB when we also have Agger?
So who of our CB's will leave cause we ain't signing anymore CB's unless we sell some of our current CB's. What if Skrtel is the CB that goes and if we do happen to sign Lovren will then feature at LCB?
Do you know anything about football?
ReplyDeleteOur squad needs whole sale surgery and there needs to be better class and greater competition for places in every position at club:
Y Konoplyanka(25) is three times better than O Assaidi(25), so he would be upgrade.
N Clyne(23) is a better defender than G Johnson(29) and M Kelly(23) and is going to get better, in the next year or two he will become an England regular in the senior team. So that is an upgrade on what we have at club.
Caulker(22) is a better defender than S Coates(23) and K Toure(33) now and he is only going to get better, so Caulker would be an upgrade.
B Davies(20) is left footed mobile quick full back who is descent defender, B Davies(20) is a better left back than J Flannagan(21). B Davies(20) is needed as cover and competition for J Enrique(27). B Davies(20) is only going to get better and is an upgrade on the back up left backs we have at club
The key players desperately needed at club this summer before anything else is: 8 / Eight:
GK 2 CB RB LB DM CM LW
GK: D Marshall(29) Of Cardiff for £4-£7M
CB:D Lovren(24) Of Sthton for £12-£16M
CB: S Caulker(22) Of Cardiff for £5-£7M
RB: N Clyne(23) Of Sthton for £5-£8M
LB: B Davies(20) Of Swansea for £4-£7M
DM: Y M'Vila(23) Of Rubin Kazan for £8-£10M
CM: I Rakitic(25) Of Seville or A Herrera(24) Of A Bilbao for £18-£25M
LW: Y Konoplanka(25) Of Dnipro for £14-£16M
Those 8 players are needed at club.
A Lallana(26) would be class, great signing but I Rakitic(25) or A Herrera(24) is needed more so than A Lallana(26), as we need someone to take over and replace our ageing amazing class great captain over next season.
Give Sakho some credit no real major stuff ups and in my mind definitely needed the season to settle in.
ReplyDeleteLovren will add that leadership you talk of and also being of Ligue 1 can likely communicate well with Sakho.
Dont be so quick to throw the flop bit out it will bite you on the behind.
Rakitic is excellent - sure to end up at a really big club eventually. Real, probably.
ReplyDeleteBecause Spurs would demand at least £25m for him...
ReplyDeleteI believe its because the way we play.
ReplyDeleteAnd? Arsenal's famous back line with Adams and Keown consisted out of all over 30 year olds. If there is one position where age doesn't matter, it's CB.
ReplyDeleteWhat if he has another good season? Then he could be £30-40m, you would have wished we had signed him!
ReplyDeleteim not saying for all 50 but there has been a lot of individual mistakes this season which has cost us goals, including countless own goals which obviously doesn't help and i'm not sure there is a leader in that back 4. Remember the season before last, carra won his place back for that very reason and we improved defensively. Sakho is very rash probably should have given away a couple of pens towards the end of the season but got away with it, Agger has been inconsistent although could be down to injuries and not always being selected and while Skrtel has been decent for most part, he is prone to making big mistakes, not imo down to the way we play.
ReplyDeleteI've long been a fan of Lovren, but am a big fan of Sakho also. I think they'd make a great partnership together, and with Kelly/Ilori/Toure/Wisdom providing backup, it would be a great move to move Agger and Skrtel on to make way for him in my opinion
ReplyDeletetbh I'd remain as happy to sell Skrtel now as I have been for the last several years, and although I have a soft spot for Agger, if we could find an agreeable move for all parties then it would be good for him to move on also.
ReplyDeleteSakho + Lovren with Ilori/Kelly/Toure/Wisdom/Coates as understudy's would be a quality centre-back core for the Champions League next year and into the future