According to media sources Dejan Lovren is going to force things to a head at St Mary's by refusing to return to pre season training when he returns from his extended break after the World Cup.
Dejan Lovren is not due to return to pre season training for another week or two but according to the Daily Echo sources close to the player are claiming that he is going to try and force a transfer through by not returning to the club for pre season training.
The Echo also reveals that Liverpool are the club who are doing all the running for the Croatian and at least two bids have been turned down already this summer, they also allege that there is a clause in his contract that says he can leave if another club offer £20 million pounds and that Liverpool are believed to have matched that.
So far Saints have stood firm, clearly the player himself has been stirred up by agents or those close to several clubs who are after his services, in addition to Liverpool, Spurs are also believed to be interested, Saints of course are pointing to his deal signed a year ago when he arrived for £8.5 million and will ask him to honour the contract.
This being the case then there are only three real questions to be answered,
1. Does the sell clause exist
2. Will the Club make a stand
3. Will Lovren make a stand.
The first we will probably find out very soon and then it will be a question of who is the strongest, from the players point of view he will be fined and continue to be fined should he not fulfill the contract, however the downside of this is that relations between club and player will deteriorate very fast leading to a point were it has to be asked whether it is wise to keep him.
From the club's viewpoint with so much money already in the coffers for sales they are not in a position where they have to sell, they can now afford to stand firm and if neccessary force the player to rot in the reserves metaphorically speaking, however is that in the best interests of the club long term.
Supporters will of course be demanding tough action from Saints and will want to see it and from that viepoint I can understand why fans want to see a statement of intent from the club.
Sources close to Lovren are saying he wants out because he feels that the "project" he was sold a year ago has changed under the new board, this is a smokescreen, there may be a new board but there are not new owners nor are there new financial restrictions, if Lovren believed that Saints project was to achieve Champions League football then he should question who told him this was the project and why that person was telling him something to lure him to the club that was clearly not in place financially.
This being the case perhaps Lovren would do well to first hear what the new manager has to say about things before he makes up his mind whether the focus has changed at St Mary's or not, from many perspectives the focus has changed for the better, there is a more highly qualified manager in place with the experience and contacts to take us on to the next level, ie domestic cup win combined with Europa League qualification, something that the previous manager did not want to achieve preferring to talk about jumping two or three levels as if this could be achieved overnight.
Also thee is a lot more money available to be spent this summer in improving the squad, if used properly we have a better chance of taking a step forward that we would have had keeping exactly the same squad and only spending a minimal amount.
There are those Saints supporters who will feel that Saints are no longer focussing on Champions League qualification, the point they are missing is that we never truly where anyway, it was idle boasts from certain people who did not have the resources or backing to achieve what they were suggesting could be obtained.
Perhaps the players who want away should reflect on this, the truth is despite fine words, in footballing terms it would be almost impossible for Saints or any club of our level to break into the top four, at least not overnight, Spurs and Everton have shown the evidence of this, Lovren may conveniently use this as an excuse, but the reality is that if he truly believed Saints would get into the Champions League during his contract then he is very naive and knows nothing about the Premier League, the actual chances were slim to say the least.
In the medium term it will be very hard to keep Lovren if he does not return from training, ideally Saints would force him to honour his contract, but is he worth £20 million ? I would say not, on his form in the first half of the season perhaps, but not on the second half, there are players of his level available much cheaper, the key to Saints moving forward will be to maximise transfer revenue whilst at the same time utilising that revenue to the best effect, if Saints hadnt lost two key players already and Lovren was the only want away I would suggest that getting £20 million for him and say buying Celtic's Virgil Van Dijk for around half that amount would be considered very good business, however this is in a very difficult situation.
In some respects Saints are victims of their own success, however this does not make us a selling club, in the past we were never a selling club but a club that was known as a developing club and that is the way forward for every club in the Premier bar those that have unlimited funds and far bigger commercial revenues.