"I showed that I took Liverpool to the Champions League final and now with my national team we are in the final. I think people should recognise that I'm one of the best defenders in the world and not just talk nonsense I will say."

Those were the words of Dejan Lovren after he had just helped lead Croatia to the World Cup final in Russia.

Since then, though, it’s been all downhill for the centre-back.

Croatia went on to lose that final 4-2 to France and Lovren has since fallen down the pecking order at Anfield.

Joe Gomez was the preferred partner to Virgil van Dijk at the start of the season before the Englishman fractured his leg against Burnley in December.

But Lovren then suffered an injury of his own in the FA Cup defeat to Wolves in January.

That allowed Joel Matip the chance to impress next to Van Dijk as Lovren recovers from his hamstring injury.

Lovren is now fit but he doesn’t look like being able to dislodge Matip in the starting line-up.

And Liverpool’s fourth-choice centre-back could be on his way out of the club come the summer.

That’s because, according to the Mirror, three Italian clubs are interested in signing the Croat.

The report states that Lovren has “emerged as a summer target for Roma, Napoli and AC Milan.”

Roma and Napoli could both lose a centre-back each this summer with Kostas Manolas and Kalidou Koulibaly attracting interest from top European clubs respectively.

Meanwhile, AC Milan are also looking to strengthen their defensive line and have identified the 29-year-old as the perfect candidate.

Lovren will turn 30 in the summer, though, and his current deal, which includes an option of an extra year, runs until 2021.

Whether Klopp will allow him to leave in the summer with Gomez’s injury history remains to be seen.