Southampton centre-back Duje Caleta-Car has revealed how former Liverpool defender Dejan Lovren influenced his decision to join the Saints over Aston Villa this past summer. The 26-year-old and Lovren are teammates on the Croatian national team and both men were part of the squad that reached the Fifa Men’s World Cup final in 2018. While he was still at Liverpool, Lovren extolled the virtues of Southampton, a club at which he spent one season, to his fellow defender during a conversation the pair had, and that was evidently still in his mind when deciding which club to join.
Caleta-Car said: “I speak to him [Lovren], he’s a very good friend and a very nice guy. When I signed here I rang him to tell him two days later. I remember when we played together in 2019 or 2020, I sat next to him on the bus and he told me the best club for me in the Premier League was Southampton. Now I am here. I spoke with him and he told me all the best about the city and the club, although he was only here one year and this goes fast so he couldn’t say too much. I hope many more Croatians come here to enjoy this club. I didn’t know the transfer would come but everybody in the club [Marseille], because my contract was out next year in Marseille, they maybe wanted to sell me. Everyone there expected that I would leave because for years I was close to coming here [to the Premier League]. Every window they would ask where will you go and things like this. I didn’t know it was coming but I was hoping it would. When my agent told me about Southampton I told him that I want to join this club and be in the Premier League,” he continued. “We have seen in history this club is doing a really good job, and here you can play against the biggest clubs in the Premier League. I think for me it was the best option to come here for my career, and to test myself against the best teams in the Premier League if I can.”
