London: Liverpool are on the brink of concluding a £20 million (Dh124 million) deal to make Dejan Lovren the most expensive defender in their history.
Brendan Rodgers has been pursuing the Croatia international all summer and though Southampton — who have already sold Adam Lallana and Rickie Lambert to Liverpool — were reluctant to do business, there has been resolution. The transfer will take Liverpool’s summer spending past £80m.
Liverpool have refused to comment but it is expected Lovren will complete a medical on Saturday, which will most likely be staged on Merseyside. He is unlikely to join up with his new teammates on their tour of the United States.
Lovren’s fee will outstrip the £18m paid for Mamadou Sakho (2013) and Glen Johnson (2009) but it will give Rodgers the commanding central defender he has been looking for since Liverpool conceded 51 goals in the Barclays Premier League last season.
Loic Remy’s protracted £8.5m move from Queens Park Rangers should also be made official over the weekend — he completed his medical in Boston but the announcement has been delayed owing to administrative issues.
Rodgers has made wholesale changes since Liverpool were pipped to the title by Manchester City in May, but one man whose position in the squad will not be altered is Raheem Sterling, now recognised as one of the best young players in the country.
After scoring seven league goals last season, Sterling enhanced his reputation during England’s wretched World Cup campaign, but revealed the only words he reflected on during his holiday in Jamaica was the criticism aimed at the squad.
Being involved in such a high-pressure and, ultimately, demoralising situation could prove scarring for some 19-year-olds but, if anything, it has only made Sterling more determined to accept the responsibility of helping England improve at future tournaments.
“It was a great experience coming on the back of a decent league season,” said Sterling, who will make his first appearance of pre-season against Olympiacos on Sunday night. “It was another learning curve on the world stage.
“We win and lose as a team and to be in the most exciting tournament in the world and go out of the group stages, you can’t really be looking at the positive for yourself because the idea was to go as far as possible and we didn’t.
“Now I have to keep striving and get better. I learnt that international football is a completely different type of game. It is more about thinking and I’m looking forward to getting more experience.
“We had ... a good enough squad to reach the knockout stages but that’s football. It’s hard at times and we have to learn for the next major tournament. I didn’t think there was too much pressure and expectation but we were disappointed not to meet the country’s expectations.”
