Liverpool demand €20m for defender as Roma switch targets

Roma will attempt to sign Liverpool defender Dejan Lovren after a deal for Tottenham’s Toby Alderweireld became difficult, according to reports.

The form of Virgil van Dijk, Joel Matip and Joe Gomez last season meant that Lovren was restricted to just 18 appearances in all competitions.

Paul Joyce in The Times wrote back in June that it would take offers of at least £25million to tempt Liverpool into selling Lovren.

And now Gazzetta dello Sport (via Sport Witness) claims Serie A side Roma want an experienced centre-back and Lovren is a man that they are very interested in.

The Croatian has been a long-term target for Roma sporting director Gianluca Petrachi with an intermediary understood to be negotiating a possible transfer on Liverpool‘s behalf.

With Tottenham not interested in selling Alderweireld, after the north London club failed to strengthen their own central defence, Roma are looking to push for a deal for Lovren.

Gazzetta dello Sport adds that the Reds want €20m for Lovren, while Roma are keen on bringing him in on a ‘loan deal (€2m loan fee) with an obligation to buy, provided certain agreed conditions are met’.

Roma are willing to give up some add-ons from their deals for Mohamed Salah and Alisson Becker to lower Liverpool’s asking price for Lovren.

One other obstacle for a deal is the 30-year-old’s wage demands as he wants €4m a year, while Roma are only willing to stump up €3m plus bonuses.