Dejan Lovren

Dejan Lovren is a center back, born in a Croatian city Zenica on 5 July 1989.

Dejan’s youth career began at a local football club Karlovac that he joined at an early age. Dejan had been playing for the youth team until scouts from the strongest Croatian club Dinamo Zagreb noticed him. In 2004 Dejan accepted the offer to attend the club’s football academy, and played for the club until 2006.

In 2006 the young footballer was offered to sign a four-year professional contract, the first in his life. Dejan accepted the club’s offer. In summer Dinamo loaned the young center back to Inter Zaprešić so that he could gain some experience and game practice. Lovren was immediately included in the first team of the temporary club, where he played 50 matches and scored one goal in two seasons.

After the end of the loan period Dejan returned to Dinamo Zagreb where he passed mainly to the club’s first team. Over the last two years, until 2010, Lovren played 37 matches and scored 1 goal for the club.

In January 2010 when the transfer window opened, the French Lyon expressed their wish to acquire the talented footballer from the Croatian club. All the deal nuances were settled in a short period of time as Dejan signed a 4.5 year contract. The Croatian featured in 73 matches for Lyon before moving to Southampton in the summer 2013. After one successful season with The Saints, Lovren was lured away to Anfield in the summer 2014.

From 2004 to 2010 Dejan was actively participating in matches of the national youth teams ranging from 17 to 21 years. He has been invited to play for the Croatia national team since 2009.