DEJAN Lovren returns to St Mary’s for the first time this weekend in real danger of being branded one of the worst signings in the history of the Premier League.

Lovren became the third most expensive defender in PL history when he controversially switched from Saints to Liverpool for £20m last summer.

After having seen Rickie Lambert and Adam Lallana move to Liverpool, the Croatian centre half engineered his own move to Anfield.

He handed in a transfer request before telling a Croatian newspaper that his “head was already at Liverpool.”

Lovren was signed to improve a defensive record which arguably cost Liverpool their first league title since 1990 in 2013/14.

In actual fact, when he has played he has made it worse – an impressive effort for someone who cost £20m.

At the same time, Saints boss Ronald Koeman has spent the fee he received from Lovren in bringing in Fraser Forster and Ryan Bertrand – two men who have helped Saints to the best defensive record in the top flight.

Liverpool conceded 50 goals in their 38 Premier League games last season, an average of 1.32 per game.

Despite finishing runners-up, they conceded more goals than eighth-placed Saints (46).

Lovren started the first 12 Liverpool league games of the 2014/15 season.

They lost six of them – the same amount they had lost in the whole of last term.

Lovren – the third most expensive centre half in PL history behind Rio Ferdinand and Joleon Lescott – was first dropped after a 3-1 loss at Crystal Palace on November 23.

The only league game he has started since then was the 3-0 defeat at Old Trafford in December.

Lovren was guilty of a horrendous error, fluffing a clearance in the 71st minute that handed Robin van Persie the chance to score United’s third goal In his 13 league starts, Liverpool conceded 21 goals – an average of 1.61, worse than last season.

In the 12 league games Lovren has not started, the club have only conceded eight times.

That works out at just 0.66 goals per game – a marginally better ratio than Saints’ 0.68 which is the best in the Premier League over the whole season.

Since his Old Trafford debacle, Lovren has only appeared three times as a sub in the league.

His last outing was as a second half sub in the win against Tottenham on February 10.

Liverpool’s last defeat was in the last game Lovren started, at Old Trafford.

Since then, the Reds have won 10 out of 16 games in league and cup action.