Daniel Sturridge has revealed how his battle with Dejan Lovren convinced Liverpool to sign the centre-back.
After stints at Dinamo Zagreb and Lyon, Lovren's first taste of Premier League football came with a season-long spell at Southampton, moving to St Mary's for an estimated £8.5m fee in June 2013.
The Croatian's only season at Southampton was a success as he was named one of the highest performing players in Europe's top-five leagues.
He played a key part in Southampton's 1-0 win over the Reds at Anfield in September 2013, scoring a second-half winner and successfully keeping the in-form Sturridge quiet.
That was no mean feat in itself, with Sturridge scoring 23 goals in all competitions for the Reds that season.
Speaking to The Beautiful Game Podcast, Sturridge was asked to name the top five centre-backs Sturridge had played against and, whilst he stopped short of including Lovren on that list, he did namecheck his former Reds teammate.
He said: “Dejan Lovren, Dejan at Southampton, before he came to Liverpool, had me up, and I was vexed, that’s why he signed for Liverpool. They signed him because he had me up, you know what I mean?
“He had me in his back pocket in that game.
“I was thinking like I’m doing everything, I think they got a clean sheet, but Dej had me up in that game, they beat us.”
With that game coming early in the season, it could well be the case that Lovren's performance convinced the Reds to monitor his form for the rest of the campaign.
