A biography for Dejan Lovrenhasn’t been written yet.
“My mum said: 'Germany is our second home' and it's true. Germany gave us their open hands. I don't know which country could have done that, at that time, to welcome refugees from Bosnia.”
“I'm my biggest critic of myself when I make mistakes.”
“Not many players played in a World Cup and Champions League final.”
“I like to keep fighting in the bad moments and I will never say I am done.”
“I love playing against England.”
“We know how in football everything changes quickly. It doesn't take too long to lose one game.”
“Everything is possible when you believe and you work hard.”
“I remember my dad took my ice skates. One day I asked my mum: 'Where are my ice skates?' because I loved to skate in the winter. And she said through tears: 'Dad is selling them now... we don't have money for this week.'”
“For Croatians it means everything to play for the national team. Because of the past. A lot of people died in the war. It's like a duty for us to give everything.”
“Maybe there is some regret with how I left Southampton.”
“There is too much said about me but this is what gets me more motivated to work harder and prove everyone wrong.”
“I saw everything on my parents, and I said to myself: 'I don't want to live my life like this.' They gave me everything they could but it was not amazing.”
“I had the luck with Germany. If they hadn't allowed us to come in I don't know where we would've gone or where we could go. I never ask about that. My mum said: 'Germany is our second home' and it's true. Germany gave us their open hands.”
“I am giving my best to have a quiet life but sometimes it doesn't depend on myself because people just want to come into my home and steal some things, even though I have nothing in my home.”
“I never said I am the best.”
“I made the wrong decision many times. Sometimes I can accept it, sometimes not because football is like that. But in the end it depends on yourself and whether you are ready to move on or not.”
“My mum was working in Walmart for €350 per month, about £280. My father was working as a house painter. We had a difficult situation with money.”
“I never had any feelings of hate towards the Southampton fans - they helped me and of course, they made some good business.”
“I was German-speaking, and I arrived 10 years old to Croatia, and really wasn't speaking a lot at home with my parents in Croatian, so it was really difficult to write in Croatian. It took me two years after I went back to learn everything again in Croatian.”
“There are teams spending a lot of money and buying top players from all over the world but it is not about money - it is about your team-mates.”