Former Liverpool favourite Dirk Kuyt has backed Dejan Lovren to have a strong season with Jurgen Klopp’s side. The Croatia international has often been highlighted as the weakness in the Reds defence but Kuyt believes the centre-back can things around after enjoying a great summer with Croatia.

“Lovren is a great guy. I am big Liverpool fan, follower on social, and I saw Dejan joined the team. He will have a great season and I believe Liverpool can fight Man City for the title this season. I enjoyed watching Croatia at the World Cup and how passionate they fought, not giving up for one second. They deserved a little more, but France are a terrific team and reaching the final is, in itself, amazing,” he was quoted as saying by Goal.com.

Lovren has been found guilty of making mistakes, which have brought him criticism, every now and then but he has nevertheless managed to secure a regular role with club and country. Moreover, he has recently been part of the Croatian setup, which went all the way to the World Cup final, and Lovren could start the new season with a new load of confidence to spur the Reds to success.

Despite the recent progress, Liverpool have now gone with a trophy for six years but the expectations are high entering into the 2018/19 season after their neat piece of transfer business this summer. The Reds have bolstered the squad with four signings during the transfer window and among those, Alisson Becker has been regarded as probably the most influential recruit.

In the season just past, Klopp had a genuine selection headache between the sticks with both Loris Karius and Simon Mignolet struggling to impress and the German will be hoping for a better assurance this term with Alisson being highly-rated.