‘That’s why he signed for Liverpool’: Daniel Sturridge takes responsibility for £20m Reds buy

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Speaking on The Beautiful Game Podcast, Daniel Sturridge has taken responsibility for Liverpool’s £20 million signing of Dejan Lovren, claiming that the Reds only signed him because of how he handled him back in 2013.

The striker was naming the top five best centre-backs he’d ever played against, and while Lovren didn’t quite make the cut, he did get an honourable mention, before Sturridge claimed that Liverpool only signed him because of the job he did on him during his time at Southampton.

“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,” Sturridge said.

“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 at their place at St Mary’s.”

It’s easy to forget just how good Lovren was at Southampton, and at the time £20 million looked like something of a bargain for the Croatian.

That game in particular, Lovren was on fire, Sturridge was right, the Saints kept a clean sheet against Liverpool during Lovren’s only season at the club, but it was at Anfield, not at St Mary’s, with Liverpool beating the Saints 3-0 in the reverse fixture that season.

Sturridge came into that game having scored in each of the Reds’ last five fixtures, but Lovren put a stop to that run, and to add insult to injury, the centre-back actually scored the only goal of the game.

Of course, he wasn’t always playing up to those high standards during his time at Liverpool, and by the end of his tenure at Anfield, he’d fallen behind the likes of Joe Gomez, Virgil van Dijk and Joel Matip in the pecking order.

However, when all was said and done, he left the Reds as a Premier League winner and a Champions League winner, so all in all, the signing of Lovren has to be seen as something of a success.

Some pundits even believe that Liverpool selling him this summer was a mistake.

Liverpool fans have Daniel Sturridge to thank for that one, as if he’d have played better against him at St Mary’s back in September 2013, he may not have signed for the club.