Jurgen Klopp delivers touching message to Dejan Lovren as Liverpool exit confirmed

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Jurgen Klopp has paid tribute to Dejan Lovren on Liverpool’s official website after the Croatian defender’s exit was confirmed, completing an £11million move to Russian giants Zenit St. Petersburg.

Lovren, 31, has ended his six-year stay at Liverpool since joining the club from Southampton in 2014 – clocking up a total of 185 appearances in all competitions. He had entered the final 12 months of his contract.

But in what is another bit of excellent business from Michael Edwards, Liverpool have secured £11million – as per the Liverpool Echo – because Lovren had a clause that would extend his contract by another 12 months.

Lovren’s exit was confirmed on Monday afternoon and manager Klopp reacted to the sale of the veteran defender, paying tribute to the ex-Lyon man and asking who will be Mo Salah’s best mate now?

“Yesterday we said, ‘Who is now the best friend of Mo?’ because they were really real, real bezzies. They were really close and that’s the thing, we will miss him,” Klopp reacted.

“He can come back always. He will be always welcome because he is a really nice guy. He won’t like the Tottenham game when I took him off in the first half, but it is part of football – and he always came back.

“I wish him the best of luck.”

Lovren joins a Zenit team that boasts former Chelsea man Branislav Ivanovic as captain, as well as ex-Barcelona ace Malcom, and other recognisable names such as Yuri Zhirkov, Sardar Azmoun and Artem Dzyuba.

Zenit will be looking to make it three Russian Premier League titles in a row next season, as well as remaining competitive in the Champions League – after being knocked out in the group stage last term.