Liverpool target blasts Southampton’s lack of ambition.
Southampton centre-back Dejan Lovren has said that his head is already at Liverpool.
The 25-year-old Croatia international, who joined Southampton for a fee in the region of £8.5m last summer, has handed in a transfer request at St Mary’s.
He is frustrated at Southampton’s decision to reject a £20m bid from Liverpool, who have already signed midfielder Adam Lallana and forward Rickie Lambert from the Saints during the current transfer window.
Lovren is also disappointed with how Southampton have communicated Liverpool’s interest with him.
He told Sportske Novosti: “Liverpool sent the offer and the club haven’t informed me.
“Not even about the subsequent Liverpool bids. That wasn’t right. I found out about the bid from other people which disappointed me and I realised I’ve got no business staying at Southampton.
“Liverpool sent a £20m and they [Southampton] paid £9m for me, so they would’ve earned twice the amount.
“At this point, I don’t know what I’ll do and I don’t like it. It was unbelievable that a few days ago I had an offer of £20m. It was in the morning and by the afternoon the club had said I was not for sale. Frankly, my head is already at Liverpool.”
Lovren scored his first goal for Southampton at Anfield in a 1-0 win over the Reds back in September.
The former Lyon defender says that he got chills when the Liverpool fans sung club anthem You’ll Never Walk Alone before that game.
He also says that Liverpool are one of the biggest clubs in the world, mentioning them in the same sentence as Real Madrid.
“Liverpool is one of the biggest clubs in the world,” he added. “Only Real Madrid have as many fans around the world.
“The last time I played at Anfield, I got chills when I heard ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone.’ I would like to listen to it all the time.”
Lovren claims that he would have been happy to stay at Southampton had the club shown more ambition.
However, he says that selling the likes of Lallana, Lambert and Luke Shaw, and parting with head coach Mauricio Pochettino, has convinced him to move on.
He explained: “Look, I’d gladly stay in Southampton if the club had any ambitions, if they kept the key players. “[If that had happened] not even the Liverpool bid would have dissuaded me.
“When I decided to go to Southampton, many people were surprised, but I went because the people at the club had great ambition. They gave me assurances about the project – the former chairman, Nicola Cortese, and the former coach, Mauricio Pochettino, convinced me. They gave me incredible confidence.
“When I began training there, I realised they had a very good team. They promised to buy two more players – they bought [Pablo Daniel] Osvaldo and [Victor] Wanyama. They are great players. The aim was to qualify for Europe, to get into the Europa League at least.”
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