A Liverpool youngster has made it clear he wants to leave the club if he is not going to get regular first-team football.
Liverpool youngster Sepp van den Berg has given an explosive interview about his experience at Anfied and wanting to get away and play regularly. The Dutchman joined the Reds back in 2019 from Zwolle, but the now 22-year-old has never made a league appearance for the club and has instead completed five loan spells elsewhere.
Van den Berg was a regular at Preston across a long-term loan spell, while he struggled for games at Schalke before going on to spent time with Mainz. The former Netherlands under-21s star is still young, but it looks as though he will not get opportunities at Liverpool going forward despite being a Bundesliga regular, racking up 33 league appearances with Mainz in the season just gone, although there is some hope with the arrival of a Dutch boss in Arne Slot.
In the meantime, the defender has been speaking to De Telegraaf, making some interesting comments. “I knew that I couldn’t get from PEC Zwolle [straight] to Liverpool’s first team,” he said, reflecting on his move to Anfield.
“I could have been at Liverpool for one or two more years, but I wanted to play with all my might. I demanded to be [loaned] out. Every time, because I felt that I was getting better and better. I also made great strides physically. Just the whole [first] season. On the one hand, that was great. Yes, how does that work, you’re 17, 18 years old, you’re central to the defence in training against the starting XI, you have to build up and then Roberto Firmino, Sadio Mane and Mo Salah come running towards you. It was tough, but I enjoyed it. But in all honesty, I wasn’t looked after anymore. I also felt ‘ready’ [in 2021].
“I had a good conversation with the management. He said he had received good reports. I understood that I wasn’t going to play Van Dijk, Matip or Konate out [the team]. But I thought I could be right behind it. When I didn’t get a chance again, I said: ‘Figure it out, I want to leave.”
The centre-back added: “(Liverpool) didn’t exude confidence in me all this time, but you do want to hinder my future. I want to keep playing every week and develop myself further. In Germany, I enjoy Dortmund away with 70,000 people, Bayern Munich away against Harry Kane, Stuttgart, Leipzig, Leverkusen, against clubs like that I am challenged every week.”
Van den Berg is under contract until 2026, and he will return to Liverpool, at least for now, to work under Slot. Now former Reds boss Jurgen Klopp has not spoken about the youngster much, but back when he and the Reds signed the Dutchman, he said: “He is a big talent but a young boy and we already have a good team. He took the challenge, he really wanted to be part of this and I’m really happy for him.
“We make signings for immediately or for the future and it’s always about the boys, what they make of it. The first impression here was really good and I’m happy to have him around.”
