World Cup star set to leave Russian Premier League – media

Croatia’s Dejan Lovren is expected to depart Zenit Saint Petersburg

Dejan Lovren, the former Liverpool defender who was crucial to Croatia’s third-place finish at the FIFA World Cup in Qatar, is expected to depart Zenit Saint Petersburg to sign for Olympique Lyonnais, according to reports from France.

Lovren, 33, spent around two-and-a-half years in the Zenit backline after signing for the Russian side in a big-money deal from Liverpool in the summer of 2020, winning two Russian Premier Leagues and two Russian Super Cups in an extremely successful-though-brief stint in Russian football.

According to French publication L’Equipe, Lyon boss Lauren Blanc has identified Lovren as having the necessary experience to bolster the backline in his side, which has underperformed so far this campaign.

The newspaper reports that Lovren has agreed to join the French club and that he had passed a pre-transfer medical examination.

Blanc’s side are currently in eighth position in the French top flight, some twenty points behind runaway league leaders Paris Saint-Germain.

The former France captain has been in charge of Lyon since October, after replacing Dutchman Peter Bosz, and told the media this week that in his first transfer window he wishes to target players with the necessary “experience, aggression, and character” to steady the ship at the former French champions.

Lovren still has six months remaining on the three-year deal he signed with Zenit but looks unlikely to fulfil the contract amid interest from Ligue 1 and Lyon – for whom Lovren played between 2009 and 2013 before spells in English football, first with Southampton and then Liverpool.

Lovren was part of the Liverpool side who ended their extensive drought for an English Premier League in the 2019-20 season, while also being integral to Lyon’s Coupe de France triumph in 2012 during his first stint with the club.

In leaving Zenit, Lovren will become the latest big-name player to have departed Russian football in the wake of the country’s military operation in Ukraine.

In all, Lovren made 63 appearances across all competitions for Zenit Saint-Petersburg, scoring three goals.