David Moyes could finally sign his £20m Man United target at West Ham

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In March 2014, David Moyes hatched a plan to strengthen Manchester United’s crumbling defence and save his ailing Old Trafford career.

According to The Mail, it was a plan based around the defensive talents of Dejan Lovren. Defensive talents that, at the time, threatened to make the 24-year-old one of Europe’s most coveted young centre-halves.

Moyes, of course, would be sacked some four weeks later. Taking ‘Operation Lovren’ with him. And later that year, the Croatian international centre-back would become the latest in a growing throng of players to swap Southampton for Liverpool, joining Man United’s North West neighbours for a fee of around £20 million.

When you consider that Lovren’s Liverpool career proved to be more Rickie Lambert and Virgil van Dijk, this was hardly ‘one-that-got-away’ on a level with some of Moyes’ other Old Trafford transfer targets.

See Toni Kroos, Leighton Baines and Thiago Alcantara.

But while Lovren is not quite ‘one of the best defenders in the world’ – despite what the man himself may claim – the 32-year-old’s CV is certainly not to be sniffed at.

Could West Ham really sign Dejan Lovren?

It should not be forgotten that Lovren played 14 times en route to reaching the Champions League final in 2017/18.

And, since leaving Anfield for Russia, he’s won three trophies in the baby blue shirt of Zenit St Petersburg. A fourth could soon follow, with Zenit five points clear of Dinamo Moscow in the Russian Premier League table.

According to Tuttomercatoweb, West Ham United will offer Lovren a return to English soil, via a two-year deal at the London Stadium.

Premier League clubs will not take advantage of a FIFA ruling, allowing players based in Russia or Ukraine to terminate their contracts and join new clubs on free transfers.

But Lovren’s future beyond this season – like many of the RPL’s big-name stars – remains shrouded in doubt. What’s more, his Zenit contract has just over 12 months left to run.

“Dejan has a very important role for us,” Jurgen Klopp said of the former Lyon man just two years ago (Independent). “He has played in a Champions League final, in a lot of big games. He is a very reliable player.

“There is a value to his experience, absolutely. Since I’ve been in here, Dejan was always either in the team, close to the team or not available.”

Moyes, too, is a coach who understands the importance of ‘experience’.

Lovren might not be the young up-and-comer he was all the way back in 2014, when Manchester United were on the lookout for a new centre-back.

But the imminent retirement of captain marvel Mark Noble will rob West Ham of their most battle-scarred soldier. Perhaps Lovren can take his place.