Where now after Lovren?
After 6 years, some important goals and countless gaffs, Dejan Lovren has agreed a move to Zenit this summer.
There was a time when Lovren was meant to be the signing that shored up a leaky defence. Save to say he shored those leaks up about as well as a tennis racket would shore up a leak under your sink. Don’t get me wrong, Lovren is a capable footballer and had some brilliant games for us and who could forget his last minute winner against Dortmund? His ‘brain-farts’ however, are well documented and while a popular figure =amongst the squad, it’s unlikely he’ll be too sorely missed by the fan base.
What is true however, is his departure leaves a hole in our squad. Our current senior centre backs are Van Dijk, Gomez and Matip, the latter two whose injury records would take you a week to read. So where now?
The obvious option is to look internally. There’s Nat Philips who now has a season in the Bundesliga under his belt. I’ve never been particularly impressed by him but he may be able to act as a stop gap for us next season. Don’t see him as a long term option though.
Looking at our other youngsters, there’s a reason we had to see off competition from other big clubs in our pursuit of Sepp Van den Berg and while he may have the physical stature to play CB in the Premier League now, other than a couple of cup appearances, we’ve seen very little of the kid to make us think he’d be ready to hit the ground running, should an injury crisis strike next season.
That brings us to Ki Jana Hoever. The former Ajax youth player looks a technically excellent young player but is he physically ready to play CB week in, week out in the Premier league? We’ve seen Lovren get rag dolled around more times than we care to remember and he’s twice the size of Hoever so I don’t think he’s physically ready yet. Also, in a recent Q&A, he was asked if he was a CB or a RB and he replied RB. Make of that what you will and whisper it quietly but I’ve actually preferred him to Neco when he’s played RB but that’s another discussion.
The final option is to sign a Kolo Toure type figure, who won’t expect to play too much but who’s experience will be invaluable for the aforementioned youngsters in training.
I’m not sure what the right answer is but our current options don’t fill me with too much confidence. Klopp has earned our trust however, so I’ll sleep soundly in the knowledge the great man no doubt has a plan.
All the best Dejan, YNWA.
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