Liverpool have reopened contract talks with defender Dejan Lovren.

The Croatian held preliminary conversations with the club last year but those negotiations had stalled.

Now they have been revived and there is a commitment to ensure Lovren remains at Anfield beyond his current deal which runs out in 2019.

Lovren moved to Liverpool from Southampton in 2014, signing a five year deal for £20 million, and despite a difficult start has improved under the management of Jurgen Klopp.

He has been hampered by injury, especially this season, although he is fit again and fighting with Ragnar Klavan for a role ahead of this weekend’s Merseyside derby.

At 27, Liverpool will feel Lovren’s best years are still ahead of him as a centre-back and they will not want to see his value diminished by entering the final two years of his deal.