In a terse four line statement on the official club website it was announced that Dejan Lovren had left Saints to join Liverpool.

It was perhaps testimony of how Saints had felt that Lovren had conducted himself in the past couple of months in the the fact that the statement was so short and did not even give a word of thanks to the Croatian signed a year ago.

The club have a point, not only has Lovren not covered himself in glory in the way that he has demanded and eventually got his move, but questions have to be asked as to the way the transfer has been conducted by the buying club.

Lovren when he asked for a transfer prior to the World Cup must have known something was in the offing, but things really started to smell when the player made his infamous "Heads already in Liverpool" statement.

Then when he accused Saints of failing to inform him of Liverpool's offer revealed that someone was leaking news of that offer and it certainly wasn't Saints, if ever there was a case of unsettling a player then this was it, of course this sort of thing happens all the time and is now regarded as the norm, indeed Saints themselves could be accused by both Celtic and Feynenoord of doing just that judging by the number of links we have had with their players recently, however the end result is it breeds mercenary players who have no real loyalty to whoever happens to be their club at any time.

Liverpool fans are already not impressed with Lovren, they more than anyone believe that players play for their club due to a loyalty to it and they are questioning his ethics after his behavior in the summer, I have to say Lovren had a decent season last year, but the best part of it was the first half, he was never quite the same player after returning from injury as was shown in his two errors at White Hart Lane against Spurs which ultimately cost us a two goal lead and the game.

It is a blow to lose Lovren if only for the fact that we are so short in the central defensive positions at the moment, however we are in now worse a position than we were a year aggo prior to us signing him, back then we paid £8.5 million and we have now more than doubled that with the £20 million received, all that matters now is that we find another player of his mould.

Photo: Action Images

StEdmund added 09:48 - Jul 28 As yet another first team player leaves, fear not. Those who watched Michael Palin's Ripping Yarns episode on the demise of Barmstoneworth United (Eight bloody One!), know that the answer is to resign those players of yesteryear. Get Mick Channon, Jim Steele, Dave Watson, Le Tiss to dust off their boots and show them how its done!
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BaselSaint added 09:53 - Jul 28 Somebody help me out... Is it that RK is completely aware of and in some part complicit with the current events? ie he want to rebuild the team as he wants it? or has the club completely lost control of the situation? If the press know so much then surely someone amongst the fans has some genuine insight / reliable info from inside the club?
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saintstuinoz added 09:53 - Jul 28 There can be no doubt that Lovren was absolute quality, and was a major part in our success of last year, however any player who makes it clear they don't want to represent our club should be sold at the highest achievable price. As with Lallana and Shaw in the last couple of week, we've done just that. I'd like to add that, unlike the doom-mongers out there, I feel really positive about the season ahead. We've got an exciting young squad, a positive and good-football-playing manager and a shedload of cash to invest in some fresh blood. To those berating the owners for the supposed 'fire-sale', remember that a few years ago we almost had no club to support. The Liebherrs can do little wrong in my mind, and, SRL aside, the recent major sales have been either forced on them/us (Lallana, Lovren) or have been where we've been able to make a major return on investment (Shaw, Chambers*). In all previous sales this season we've either had quality in the squad to come in (Targett, Clyne) or signed exciting replacements (Tadic, Pelle). In this instance I'm looking forward to a equal-or-better-than-Lovren centre half to be signed in the coming days. Keep the faith... Up the Saints!

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SanMarco added 13:23 - Jul 28 Good on you saintstuinoz. Would be good to hear of some quality replacements sooner rather than later though...
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corkcitysaint added 18:36 - Jul 28 Lovely quotes from DL in the press today over joining Loverpoole. I'm so glad we could realise his dream after only one season instead of his contracted 4…. Players agents must be rubbing their hands in glee at the moment!! It's all very well having a "war chest" to spend on players. But if you go about replacing the side with 5 - 7 + new players, I just can't see them all fitting in this season never mind by Aug 16th!! We'll have 11 individuals running around the pitch. I feel sorry for RK. Did he REALLY know what he was getting into. Yes, we have a good academy but you can't expect them to step up in so many numbers so soon. You'll never win anything with kids…. oh, wait..

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