Following new signing Dejan Lovren first match in a pre-season 4-0 win over Borussia Dortmund that saw the Croatian score a goal, Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers has hailed him as the as the ‘new Jamie Carragher.’
Rodgers likened the £20 million signing from Southampton to the legendary former centre-back, and was also in awe of the fantastic displays from new boys Javier Manquillo and Emre Can.
When speaking with talkSPORT after the match the Liverpool boss said:
“I’ve been really pleased with all of the signings because they have all come in as part of our strategy and the types of profile of players that we want,” said Rodgers.
“Of the two boys that played today, Dejan was perfect – he’s what we’ve been looking for since Jamie Carragher left. He’s a very dominant centre-half.
“He’ll go and attack the ball, reads the game incredibly well and you can see his leadership qualities with his talking and guidance of the back four. You also saw his range of pass on both sides, left foot and right foot.
His pass into [Philippe] Coutinho for the first goal was wrapped in with his left foot and that creates the nick around the corner to get us the goal.
“Like he showed us last year, he is dominant in the air in the other box, attacking it. I thought he was excellent.
“And young Javier Manquillo was outstanding, at 20 and playing his first game at Anfield having only joined this week. His fitness level was very good.
“He’s the type of full-back I like – he can get tight to people, stop crosses and defend well, but also then has the energy to attack and get forward. He was very, very good.”
