West Ham United have allegedly offered Zenit Saint Petersburg centre-back Dejan Lovren a two-year deal.
That’s according to a report from Tuttomercatoweb who claims that the Hammers are ready to offer the 32-year-old an escape route out of the Russian club.
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West Ham manager tried to bring a central defender to the London Stadium during the January transfer window but failed to do so.
As a result, the Hammers are very light in the centre-back department. Angelo Ogbonna is still out with an ACL injury whilst Issa Diop is far from reliable.
Should Kurt Zouma or Craig Dawson suffer a serious injury between now and the end of the season, we could be in real trouble. It seems as though Moyes has a plan up his sleeve to bolster his ranks, however…
West Ham offer Dejan Lovren two-year deal
Tuttomercatoweb reckon that the Hammers are keen to bring the 70-capped Croatia international to the London Stadium.
The news comes after FIFA opened a one-month transfer window to sign players from clubs in Ukraine and Russia.
As the war continues, players currently contracted to clubs in Russia and Ukraine will be able to suspend their terms of employment until June 30th, as outlined here on FIFA’s official website.
There is now a one-month window open whereby West Ham could sign a player temporarily up until the end of the season. The window closes on April 7th.
There are murmurings that the Premier League could block any potential signings, however, in order to maintain sporting integrity (Sky Sports).
So whether West Ham would actually be able to sign Lovren before the end of the season remains to be seen.
If we can, the 32-year-old may well be a useful addition to Moyes’s ranks.
Lovren left Liverpool for Zenit for around £11 million back in the summer of 2020 (BBC).
The Croatia international is a very solid centre-back. He’s strong and commanding in the air, tenacious in the tackle and is a fine reader of the game.
In 14 league outings for Zenit this season, the 32-year-old has averaged 1.1 interceptions, 3.6 clearances and 3.4 successful aerial duels per match (Who Scored).
During those appearances, Lovren has made an average of 58.7 passes per game and has recorded an impressive completion rate of 84.7% (Who Scored).
The Croatia international has won the Premier League and the Champions League so he has a lot of winning pedigree.
He is still a very capable centre-back and if West Ham can pick him up on a free transfer it seems like somewhat of a no-brainer.
As mentioned earlier though, it may well be a moot point if the Premier League do end up blocking any transfers during FIFA’s recently opened window.
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