Dejan Lovren: âI never expected that I would be somebodyâ http://www.theguardian.com/football/2014/aug/15/dejan-lovren-i-never-expected-to-be-somebody The refugee childhood of Liverpoolâs new Croatia centre-back has inspired him to work hard and be strong Jamie Jackson The Guardian, Friday 15 August 2014 22.30 BST Dejan Lovren will try to be a leader for Liverpool, who begin their league campaign against his old club Southampton. Photograph: Nick Taylor/Liverpool FC/ via Getty When he was three years old Dejan Lovrenâs family had to flee Yugoslavia or âsomebody would have been killedâ. The central defender billed by Brendan Rodgers as Liverpoolâs new Jamie Carragher endured a childhood that can hardly be imagined. Yet Lovren maintains this was crucial in forming an inner strength that has helped his rise to be the marquee summer signing for the five-times European champions. No wonder Rodgers views Lovren, who cost £20m from Southampton, as a natural leader despite being only 25. The man whose goal secured Southampton a fine win at Anfield last season is intelligent and open, willing to engage in debate and offer a range of opinions formed by his own experiences that include a challenge to those on these shores who believe immigrants can never be a force for good. Born in Zenica in what is now Bosnia-Herzegovina, Lovren and his family fled to Germany from his home town in 1992, 12 months before 15 people were massacred when its market was bombed. Eight years of agonising uncertainty in Munich ensued as Lovren lived under the threat of being deported with his parents. After finally being ordered to leave, Lovren arrived as a stranger in Croatia and could hardly speak the language of the country he went on to represent in the World Cup this summer. Lovren, who will make his senior debut against his old club at Anfield on Sunday, says: âThe family left because of the war. If we stayed, somebody would be killed. It was horrible in this time â we were prepared to go to Germany, my parents took the decision and said: âWe donât have a choice any more.â My father and motherâs parents were already there so we were the last. We took the bags, one little car, and we were in Germany. âThere was an attack on the market a year after we left. A lot of people were killed. It showed to me it is a difficult life. It was really difficult for my parents to leave the country at 27, 28 years old, and say: âCome on, we need to go to Germany.â âYou donât speak German, you donât know anything about this, you are going like a blind man and, with a child like me at three years old, this was really difficult for the family. But this is what gave something to me, it made me stronger inside. It showed me life is never easy, you will earn everything with work. I saw everything on my parents, and I said to myself: âI donât want to live my life like this.â They gave me everything they could but it was not amazing.â Of his familyâs deportation for effectively being illegal immigrants, Lovren says: âWe didnât have the right papers. My grandfather yes, because he left Bosnia two years before the war, so he had the papers for my grandmother, but not for my father and mother. âIt was difficult. A lot of people were trying to go to Germany because of the war and they couldnât give [permission] to everyone. I think after seven years in Germany the situation calmed down and we went back in 1999.â Lovrenâs family settled in Karlovic, a town south-west of Zagreb, Croatiaâs capital but new problems emerged. âIt was really difficult for me because I had many friends [in Munich]. I had three years in the nursery and four years in the school. I was German-speaking, and I arrived 10 years old to Croatia, and really wasnât speaking a lot at home with my parents in Croatian, so it was really difficult to write in Croatian,â he says. âIt took me two years after I went back to learn everything again in Croatian. It was difficult because you know, when youâre a kid, the others kids are laughing at you over things like that.â Although Lovren had played for a small club in Munich there were no dreams of life as a footballer. âI never expected that I would be somebody. I just started playing and when I was 12, 13, thought: âWow, Iâm playing good.â Then Dinamo Zagreb were speaking about signing me, I thought: âHmm, maybe I can achieve something.â âBut I was just a normal child. I had a dream about Bayern Munich, they were my team. I had my photos taken with Giovane Ãlber, [Mario] Basler, [Bixente] Lizarazu. I have all these pictures in my room. I would go to the training ground to see them. The guys here [outside Melwood, Liverpoolâs training ground] waiting? That was me.â He will not say his upbringing made him more determined but adds: âI would say Iâm proud about this. I know where I came from, it will always be in me. Maybe it was better to happen like this, than maybe to have a good childhood when you donât know the real life.â While some hold that immigrants can never be a positive addition to society, Lovren reflects on how the chance of a fresh life in Germany was the catalyst for his career. âYeah, of course, but it was normal in Germany at that time to accept immigrants after the war. What can you say to them? Say âNoâ and send them back and they will be killed? I understand the situation and still Iâm here as a stranger but everyone needs to accept [those] who will work for this country and who will make money for this country. These people deserve to be here.â After joining Dinamo in 2006, Lovren won two championships in four years before moving to Lyon for £8m. He helped win the French Cup and took part in two Champions League campaigns during his three and a half seasons there, before last summerâs £8.5m move to Southampton. Lovren came close to joining Liverpool while at Lyon, where he endured a hostile time. âThey criticised me in many ways,â he says. âEven from the beginning when I arrived. They were asking: âWhy is this guy â¬10m?â It was always: âWhy this? Why this? Why this?â Always something. When I was playing good, nobody was saying I was playing good. When I was playing bad, I would be the first one on the front of the journal. It wasnât easy for me. They didnât respect me as a player.â Lovren, who has 28 Croatia caps and scored on his Liverpool bow â Sundayâs 4-0 hammering of Borussia Dortmund â shrugs when asked about the Carragher comparison. âThe manager said he sees me like a leader. I said to him: âIâm still young. Iâm 25, but I will try my best. I will lead the team.â I donât have so much experience like Jamie Carragher but it will come and it is a great honour to be compared by the manager with a player like that. âI like to talk during the game, I like communication with the lads â to keep me awake apart from anything else. But itâs the beginning.â Liverpool finished an impressive second last season. Of the clubâs title hopes, Lovren says: âI canât say that we can win it but we have a really good chance. Chelsea, Arsenal, Manchester United, also Manchester City. They are the ones. It will be tight, like last season, but we will be here fighting. I think it will be even better than the last year.â
He seems like a likeable, composed, hard-working professional who deserves every bit of success he gets. I honestly believe in 10 years time we will look back and seem him as one of the clubs finest purchases.
"You had a hard childhood. You were born a Croat, but raised a German. You have chips on your shoulders, but you balance them well and stand tall. YOU will be our new Leader." "Yes, Brendan. I will be the Leader."
Nah he's just a bit nuts like all Croats In other news the latest training pictures seem to indicating a growing bromance between the mad man and coutinho
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