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Lovren 'pricing himself out of Liverpool exit' with hefty wage demands

  /  autty

Bayern Leverkusen's pursuit of Dejan Lovren has hit a stumbling block due to the Liverpool defender's eye-watering wage demands.

Roma had previously been keen to bring Lovren to Italy this summer after the Croatian fell down the pecking order under Jurgen Klopp.

However his €1million signing on fee ultimately put the Serie A giants off and it was expected that the former Southampton star would stay put at Anfield.

But according to reports in Germany, Leverkusen have stepped up their pursuit of the Croatia international and view the centre-back as a ‘big solution’ to strengthen their defence.

It is believed that the Bundesliga side have opened talks with Liverpool over a season-long loan move, and are willing to pay a £2.75m fee to bring him to Germany.

Bild made that claim on Wednesday but the German publication has now reported that there are issues over the financial package Lovren would recieve.

Lovren is not willing to budge on his €9m (£8.1m) yearly salary, which he currently earns at Liverpool, but that is deemed to be "too much" for the Bundesliga outfit.

The centre-back, it is claimed, is "unlikely" to change his salary demands, demands which leave Leverkusen with a decision to make.

Klopp hasn't included Lovren in his squad for the opening two league games - against Norwich and Southampton - or the Super Cup victory over Chelsea .

Lovren has made 170 appearances for the Merseyside club since joining in a £20m move from Southampton in 2014.

Despite being a regular in the Reds' back-line in his first few years at Anfield, injuries and the strong performances of Joel Matip, Virgil Van Dijk and Joe Gomez saw the Croatian limited to just 18 appearances in all competitions last season.