Dejan Lovren out of Liverpool Super Cup Squad with Transfer Sickness

Dejan Lovren has been left out of the travelling squad for Liverpool’s Super Cup match against Chelsea on Wednesday, with the official word from the club being that the 30-year-old Croatian centre half has an illness.

However, the reality is likely to be that he has been left out due to a likely £15M transfer to Roma, with the rumours of the past month having turned to solid reports from club-connected journalists over the past 24 hours.

From The Times’ Paul Joyce to Goal’s Neil Jones to The Evening Standard’s David Lynch—who goes as far as putting “illness” in quotation marks—there are widespread reports that a move for Lovren could be near.

Further, the fee and destination club seems to be coalescing around £15M and Roma, with it appearing as though previously-linked AC Milan are no longer considered a likely destination for the veteran Liverpool defender.

The club are said to be willing to entertain a sale—though they would ideally have preferred to keep Lovren at the club—as the player desires more regular minutes than he expects to receive if he stays with Liverpool as fourth choice.

As for Liverpool, that Fabinho impressed last season filling in at centre half and that youngsters Sepp van den Berg and Ki-Jana Hoever have impressed Jürgen Klopp this summer is said to further have led to a willingness to sell.