Liverpool defender Sepp van den Berg returned to Liverpool this summer after a successful loan spell at Bundesliga club Mainz.
However, there have been many rumours reported that the Dutch defender would be willing to move away from Anfield in search of more first-team minutes.
Van den Berg poured fuel onto the fire when speaking to the Mail about the £20-25 million valuation put on him, with the Dutchman believing the figure is too high.
Van den Berg said: "Liverpool may think it is right as I had a good season, if they want £20-£25million that is a lot more. Hopefully we can find a way. Maybe I stay, maybe I go".
However, the Dutchman has returned to the Reds and been a vital part of the early weeks of training under new head coach Arne Slot.
The 22-year-old is one of the few central defenders with Liverpool's pre-season squad, with the Dutchman paired alongside Englishman Jarell Quansah, in Liverpool's 1-0 victory over Real Betis in the United States.
This is because senior defenders, Virgil Van Dijk, Ibrahima Konate and Joe Gomez are away on holiday after their respective national sides reached the latter stages of Euro 2024.
-
Reds career so far
The young Dutch defender signed for Liverpool from Eredivise PEC Zwolle, for £4.4 million when he was just 17 years of age.
Van den Berg managed to make 22 appearances for his hometown team before securing the move to Merseyside in 2019.
However, opportunities at Anfield were few and far between in his first few years at the club, with the youngster failing to make a Premier League appearances in the season 2019-20.
The Dutchman did however make four appearances in the cup competitions in 2019-2020.
A loan to Championship side Preston North End would see him make 66 appearances for the Lancashire club in the 2020-21 and 2021-22 seasons.
Another loan spell followed the season after, this time to German side Schalke, where he would see himself make nine appearances in a side which would ultimately be relegated from the Bundesliga.
-
Unlocking his potential at Mainz?
The eight-cap Netherlands U21 international would find himself again at a crossroads which would ultimately lead him to making a loan move back to the Bundesliga, this time to Mainz.
The defender would find greater success than which he did in Gelsenkirchen.
He had a breakthrough season for the German club, making 33 appearances, scoring three goals as Mainz escaped a relegation battle to finish 13th.
The Dutchman excelled with Die Nullfünfer with many believing that his time at Anfield could finally be beckoning.
In terms of stats, Van den Berg ranked highly in the Bundesliga.
If we take into account aerial duels, Van den Berg was highly impressive winning 185 at a success percentage of 68.7%, putting him in the 97 percentile in the Bundesliga.
Only Heidenheim's Tim Kleindienst won more at 187.
If you compare this to defenders such as Dayot Upamecano and Mats Hummels he ranks up well again with Upamecano winning just 42 duels last season at 62.7% and Hummels at 38 won at 61.3%.
Van den Berg ranked highly for shots blocked with 36 made during the season, which was the second highest and also making 159 clearances which was the third highest in the Bundesliga last season.
We always have to caveat this by saying that his stats might be inflated due to the workload he has been put through in comparison to other defenders mentioned with better teams usually having to defend much less.
-
Comparing the playing style
Of course, you need to take into account the style of football which Mainz were playing last season and then compare it to the style of play which Liverpool will be playing the season under Arne Slot.
Mainz found themselves playing a lot of 3-4-3 last season with Van den Berg playing in either the centre of the back three or just to the right of it.
This would be a style of play which would look to be more defensively solid and surrendering possession where they could. This is seen with Mainz having an average possession of 46.1% throughout the Bundesliga season.
There would also be a much greater emphasis on counter attacks, where Mainz scored five of their 39 goals and set pieces where Mainz scored 13 of their goals.
Liverpool for most of the season saw themselves playing more of front-foot 4-3-3 system which would look to dominate play and strangle their opposition.
The Reds were much more dominant on the ball than Mainz, with Liverpool having an average of 61.3% per game.
Liverpool were much more of an attacking side, with them scoring 86 goals, 53 of those coming from open play, more goals than Mainz managed all season.
The system, will definitely have a rejig as the club move into a new era under Arne Slot, but I would not imagine that there will be much difference in that number this season.
One thing will remain the case though. If Sepp van den Berg is going to play for Liverpool he is going to have to pass the ball well and be on the front-foot as a defender in Slot’s team.
The Dutch defender was in a system last year which did not really require their defender to be able to pass the ball with the utmost assurance. Ultimately he was given the chance to be less of a ball playing defender and be very orthodox.
We have seen that Van den Berg can head, block and clear danger from his penalty early, but has he got what it takes to be a top level central defender?
If we are going to go off his pass completion percentage then there is a way to go.
He had a pass completion percentage of 81%, if we compare this to the centre backs Liverpool had last season it is below that standard.
Van Dijk ranked at 91.4%, Quansah ranked at 88.6% , Konate at 87.9% Joel Matip at 87.6 and Joe Gomez who played in a multitude of positions was at 82.8%.
-
So, where do we head next?
It is clear to see that Sepp van den Berg had a very good season at Mainz and would definitely want to kick on next season for the good of his career.
If the recent reports are true, that Liverpool are looking at getting a fee between £20-25 million, then they are in a place to rightfully ask for it.
If Van den Berg can continue the promise which he has shown in the early weeks of this pre-season, including the game against Real Betis where he proved to be a solid operator then the minutes will definitely be there for him to get this season.
But, on the flip-side you can understand why the Dutchman would be so eager to move on after having such a breakthrough season at Mainz.
This could also end up being a ploy by Liverpool to get that £20-25 million which mentioned.
Ultimately, both sides are going to have to come the table and decide what is best for both player and club.
One would expect this to drag on throughout this summer and we will probably get more of an understanding, when the more senior defenders return to pre-season training.
