Liverpool are reportedly refusing to sell Sepp van den Berg cheaply as other clubs vie for his signature. The 22-year-old started on the bench against Las Palmas on Sunday night as the Reds played two consecutive pre-season friendlies.
Liverpool signed Van den Berg from PEC Zwolle five years ago, but have yet to give the player a single Premier League appearance.
He has been loaned out for the past four seasons and spoke out harshly against the Anfield giants in an interview earlier this summer.
Van den Berg impressed during a loan spell at Mainz last season, making 33 Bundesliga appearances. The defender previously made 61 Championship appearances during two loan spells at Preston and also played for Schalke.
Van den Berg has attracted a lot of attention this summer and a number of clubs across Europe are said to be interested in signing him permanently.
But according to transfer guru Fabrizio Romano, Liverpool have made it clear to clubs that they will not accept offers in the range of £8.5-10 million for Van den Berg, as his price is £20 million.
Should Van den Berg stay at Anfield this summer, he will find it difficult to get playing time next season as he is currently behind the likes of Virgil van Dijk, Ibrahima Konate, Jarell Quansah and Joe Gomez in the pecking order at centre-back.
And at the beginning of June, Van den Berg made his views on staying at Anfield perfectly clear to De Telegraaf: “I knew that I would not (directly) go from PEC Zwolle to the Liverpool first team. I could have stayed at Liverpool for another year or two, but I wanted to play with all my strength.”
“I asked to be loaned out. Every time, because I felt like I was getting better and better. I also made great progress physically.”
“Just the whole (first) season. On the one hand, that was great. Yes, how does it work, you’re 17, 18 years old, you’re in the centre of defence in training against the starting eleven, you have to build up and then Roberto Firmino, Sadio Mane and Mo Salah come running towards you. It was hard, but I enjoyed it. But to be honest, I wasn’t looked after any more.”
“I felt ready (in 2021) too. I had a good conversation with management. He said he had received good reports. I understood that I would not outplay Van Dijk, (Joel) Matip or Konate (from the team). But I thought I could be right behind them. When I didn’t get another chance, I said: ‘Find out, I want to go.’
“They (Liverpool) have shown no trust in me the whole time, but they want to ruin my future. I want to keep playing every week and keep developing. In Germany I enjoy (Borussia) Dortmund away in front of 70,000 spectators, Bayern Munich away against Harry Kane, Stuttgart, (RB) Leipzig, (Bayer) Leverkusen. I am challenged every week against clubs like these.”
