World Football: Dejan Lovren Is the Future of Croatian Football

Dejan Lovren, born on 5th July, 1989 in Zenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina is a Croatian superstar in the making.

Lovren is a very talented center back and he can also play as rigth back. He is very strong in the tackle, has good pace, and has been described as dominant in the air.

Dejan Lovren started his career in youth team of NK Karlovac. In 2005, after great performances in NK Karlovac, he moved to the greatest Croatian football club, Dinamo Zagreb.

One year later, Dejan debuted for the senior squad of Dinamo in Prva HNL match against Inter Zaprešić. Everybody knew about Dejan's perspective to become a great defender in future.

In 2007, he was loaned to Inter Zaprešić club for two seasons, in which he featured in 50 league matches. 50 matches is a great statistic for such a young guy like Lovren.

Following his return from loan, Lovren regularly featured in NK Dinamo's first eleven, appearing in 38 matches throughout 2008–09 season, bagging three goals.

During 2008-2009 season, Dejan Lovren scored a key goal for Dinamo Zagreb, who played against Czech Republic team, Sparta Prague. Lovren's goal brought Dinamo Zagreb group stage of UEFA Cup.

He won everything with Dinamo Zagreb (domestic league and Croatian cup).

After so many great perfrormances in Dinamo Zagreb shirt, Dejan deserved a great transfer in one of the greatest football clubs in the world, Olympique Lyon.

In January 2010, Lovren signed a four-and-a-half-year contract with French Ligue 1 club Olympique Lyonnais. Lyon paid 10 million€ for Dejan, which is a great transfer considering that Lovren was only 20 years old.

He was given the number 26 shirt at the club and made his competitive debut on 24 January 2010 in their 2–1 defeat at Monaco in the Coupe de France, playing the entire match.

His Ligue 1 debut came on 31 January 2010 in Lyon's 2–1 win at home to Paris Saint-Germain, once again completing the full 90 minutes.

Lovren was first called–up to Croatia national team in 2009 by manager Slaven Bilić, who included the player in his match squad against Belarus on 12 August. He was an unused substitute, but still was delighted with the new experience.

Currently, he has played five times for the Croatian national team.

Lovren was also capped 48 times in the various Croatia youth national teams and scored four goals.

Lyon has a huge trust in this young player and I am pretty sure that Dejan Lovren is not going disappoint Lyon's directors and their fans. Lyon did a great deal by signing Lovren because they didn't just got a great player, they also got a great person.

One thing is for sure: Dejan Lovren is the future of Croatian Football!