Spurs still rivaling Liverpool for Southampton star

Ever since Mauricio Pochettino was identified as the favorite to take over as Tottenham Hotspur boss, everyone's been wondering if he could lure Dejan Lovren to the club. Since then, Southampton have already cashed in on Luke Shaw, Adam Lallana and Rickie Lambert, so they don't really need money, but that's not stopping clubs for bidding for Lovren.

Liverpool are the pretty clear favorites to land Lovren, but The Mirror are reporting that Spurs are still interested and are going to step up their interest shortly. Liverpool would probably match whatever bid Spurs had accepted, at which point it would be up to Lovren to decide if he wants Champions League football or a reunion with Poche.

Unfortunately, Spurs probably aren't in serious contention for Lovren, since he's made it pretty clear that he wants to go to Liverpool. Maybe a big bid from Spurs would change things from his perspective, but it doesn't get much more clear than these quotes from Sportske Novosti, translated by ESPN.

"At this point, I don't know what I'll do and I don't like it. It was unbelievable that a few days ago I had an offer of £20 million. It was in the morning and by the afternoon the club had said I was not for sale. Frankly, my head is already at Liverpool."

So if Poche wants him, Daniel Levy better write Southampton a fat check pretty soon, so they get cleared to start whispering sweet nothings into Lovren's ear.