Arsenal and three of their Premier League rivals have been put on alert after hearing that Liverpool defender Dejan Lovren is weighing up a move to London this summer, according to TEAMtalk. As well as the Gunners, Croatian international Lovren has also caught the attention of Tottenham, West Ham and Crystal Palace, all of whom could consider a move for the centre-back following the end of the current campaign.
Jurgen Klopp will apparently allow the 30-year-old to leave Anfield this summer with the defender having fallen behind Virgil van Dijk, Joe Gomez and Joel Matip in the pecking order on Merseyside.
With Lovren now considering his options, TEAMtalk exclusively reveal that the 57-cap World Cup finalist favours a move to London, although he has also received offers from Italy, Spain Germany and France.
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While Mikel Arteta does want to bolster his defensive options this summer, Lovren might not be the right man for him to bring to the Emirates.
Assuming that Sokratis does decide to leave Arsenal, and with it not yet clear how much William Saliba will feature, the Gunners’ two starting centre-backs are currently Shkodran Mustafi and David Luiz.
Statistically, Lovren falls behind Mustafi in average interceptions per game (1.8 v 1), average clearances per game (6.1 v 4.4), while Luiz ranks higher in blocks per game (1.1 v 0.7).
At 30, Lovren doesn’t offer much in the long-term. Other than David Luiz and Sokratis, all of Arsenal’s centre-backs are younger, meaning they are all more likely to improve and develop as time goes by.
If the Gunners were severely light on options, Lovren wouldn’t necessarily be a poor piece of business. However, the club currently have better options, and more importantly they have bigger and better ambitions.
