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Dejan Lovren is a huge icon in Karlovac, the city in Croatia where the defender grew up and started chasing his dream to become a professional football player.

His dreams ended up coming true of course, and now one of the walls at which he used to kick the ball day and night has been immortalised by some of his biggest fans.

His brother, Davor Lovren, and good friend Matija Mišić have

/BznJ5_2A6JI/" data-lasso->painted a whole mural for Lovren's birthday, showing his recent Champions League glory as well as his success with the national team.

The Reds' centre-back took to Instagram to celebrate this great gesture and send them a message of support.

"Beautiful. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. I'm speechless," he said, and then followed it with some heart emojis for his hometown.

Even though he is very much an icon for Croatia, being one of the most important pieces of Zlatko Dalić's jigsaw that ended up runners-up in the 2018 World Cup in Russia, his Liverpool days are still in doubt.

The latest reports link him to a move to Italy, namely Milan, but we're yet to hear any concrete updates on that front.

Lovren played a somewhat sporadic role for the Merseyside club last season, managing only 13 appearances with a goal and an assist to his name.