Found this on Reddit:
© Thijs Rooimans
He has just completed a return trip to Liverpool and is settling down at Schiphol in the Sheraton hotel behind a large salad. “Haven't eaten yet, just traveled back and forth to the Liverpool training complex, where there was hardly anyone left,” says Sepp van den Berg, almost apologetically.
Fit after a year of FSV Mainz in the Bundesliga
He had to report for some physical tests. All modern football is based on data and so at Anfield they want to know how fit and powerful the tall defender is after having played for a year at FSV Mainz 05 in the Bundesliga.
Not that he thinks they need those dates at Liverpool after the summer, because let's get straight to the point: this defender feels little need to join the Liverpool of new coach Arne, despite an impressive year in Germany. Finally to report. More about that later. Van den Berg, who has grown from a slender defender to a 1.92 meter tall, muscular athlete in a few years, is a footballer with a special path to the top. But also a player with a idiosyncratic character and a good brain. Convinced of himself, no one should be surprised if he plays for a top European club within a few seasons.
You could say that on paper he is already at a club of such caliber. Everyone knows that as a 17-year-old he already surprised with his transfer from PEC Zwolle to Liverpool. He had just arrived to watch the Eredivisie, when the scouts of the Premier League club were already on his doorstep. Overnight, the teenager faced all of Liverpool's big guns in training, sharing the dressing room with Gini Wijnaldum, Virgil van Dijk, Jordan Henderson and Mo Salah.
And not just for a moment. “Just the whole season. On the one hand, that was great. Yes, how does that work, you are 17, 18 years old, you are in the center of the defense in training against the starting eleven, you have to build up and then Firmino, Sadio Mané and Salah come running at you. It was tough, but I enjoyed it.”
'I was not looked after at Liverpool'
The shock was therefore even greater when he was returned to the dressing room of the second team the following season. He had already played in the main squad in the League Cup and FA Cup. Nevertheless, he was allowed to go on a trip to Asia in pre-season. “But in all honesty, I was no longer looked after.” Other young players quickly took his place.
Where someone else would see a dead end, Van den Berg went doubly hard. He insisted on being rented out. First at Preston North End, where he played more than 70 games in a year and a half and started to grow as a defender. Liverpool then signed him at Schalke 04 and then came his dream year at FSV Mainz. Note the old club of Jurgen Klopp, with whom he had little contact, but who did receive positive stories about Van den Berg in his last season in Germany.
Van den Berg: “I knew for sure that I couldn't get into Liverpool's first team from PEC Zwolle. I could have spent another year or two at Liverpool, but I really wanted to play. I demanded to be rented out. Every time, because I felt I was getting better and better. I also made great strides physically.”
'I said: figure it out, I want to leave'
Each time he had to return to Liverpool after the season. And the club gave him hope again. During one of his last pre-season trips with Liverpool, veterans Jordan Henderson and James Milner told him how much they admired his performance and perseverance. They thought he was 'ready' and were counting on him getting his chance. “I also felt 'ready'. I had a good conversation with the management. He said he had received good reports. I certainly understood that I was not going to eliminate Van Dijk, Matip or Konaté. But I thought I could get behind that straight away. When I didn't get a chance again, I said: figure it out, I want to l away again.”
Sepp van den Berg is still under contract with Liverpool, but his preference seems to be a permanent transfer to the Bundesliga. All the broken promises from his club have not made him bitter, but they have caused the love for Liverpool to cool down. Arne Slot wants to see him at work in the preparation, just like his predecessor Klopp. But Van den Berg wants to choose his own path and make a transfer. He is now one of the best defenders in the Bundesliga, and also one of the four fastest central defenders in that competition. As a result, clubs in Germany, the Netherlands and England are queuing up. He wants to make his own choice.
The only issue now is the asking price that Liverpool has in mind. But here too, the well-spoken and down-to-earth Dutchman does not want to be used as a plaything again. He sees it this way: “You have not radiated confidence in me all this time, but you do want to hinder my future. I want to continue playing every week and further develop myself.”
The Bundesliga would be a good choice. There he can play at a high level in nine out of ten matches. “In Germany I enjoy Dortmund away with 70,000 people, Bayern Munich away against Harry Kane, Stuttgart, Leipzig, Leverkusen, I am challenged against those kinds of clubs every week.” And he's doing well. He played one of his best games against Dortmund with Mainz this season. “After 23 minutes we were 3-0 ahead. That was also the final result. We are talking about the Champions League finalist. Five days earlier they had defeated PSG in Paris…”
© Thijs Rooimans
He has just completed a return trip to Liverpool and is settling down at Schiphol in the Sheraton hotel behind a large salad. “Haven't eaten yet, just traveled back and forth to the Liverpool training complex, where there was hardly anyone left,” says Sepp van den Berg, almost apologetically.
Fit after a year of FSV Mainz in the Bundesliga
He had to report for some physical tests. All modern football is based on data and so at Anfield they want to know how fit and powerful the tall defender is after having played for a year at FSV Mainz 05 in the Bundesliga.
Not that he thinks they need those dates at Liverpool after the summer, because let's get straight to the point: this defender feels little need to join the Liverpool of new coach Arne, despite an impressive year in Germany. Finally to report. More about that later. Van den Berg, who has grown from a slender defender to a 1.92 meter tall, muscular athlete in a few years, is a footballer with a special path to the top. But also a player with a idiosyncratic character and a good brain. Convinced of himself, no one should be surprised if he plays for a top European club within a few seasons.
You could say that on paper he is already at a club of such caliber. Everyone knows that as a 17-year-old he already surprised with his transfer from PEC Zwolle to Liverpool. He had just arrived to watch the Eredivisie, when the scouts of the Premier League club were already on his doorstep. Overnight, the teenager faced all of Liverpool's big guns in training, sharing the dressing room with Gini Wijnaldum, Virgil van Dijk, Jordan Henderson and Mo Salah.
And not just for a moment. “Just the whole season. On the one hand, that was great. Yes, how does that work, you are 17, 18 years old, you are in the center of the defense in training against the starting eleven, you have to build up and then Firmino, Sadio Mané and Salah come running at you. It was tough, but I enjoyed it.”
'I was not looked after at Liverpool'
The shock was therefore even greater when he was returned to the dressing room of the second team the following season. He had already played in the main squad in the League Cup and FA Cup. Nevertheless, he was allowed to go on a trip to Asia in pre-season. “But in all honesty, I was no longer looked after.” Other young players quickly took his place.
Where someone else would see a dead end, Van den Berg went doubly hard. He insisted on being rented out. First at Preston North End, where he played more than 70 games in a year and a half and started to grow as a defender. Liverpool then signed him at Schalke 04 and then came his dream year at FSV Mainz. Note the old club of Jurgen Klopp, with whom he had little contact, but who did receive positive stories about Van den Berg in his last season in Germany.
Van den Berg: “I knew for sure that I couldn't get into Liverpool's first team from PEC Zwolle. I could have spent another year or two at Liverpool, but I really wanted to play. I demanded to be rented out. Every time, because I felt I was getting better and better. I also made great strides physically.”
'I said: figure it out, I want to leave'
Each time he had to return to Liverpool after the season. And the club gave him hope again. During one of his last pre-season trips with Liverpool, veterans Jordan Henderson and James Milner told him how much they admired his performance and perseverance. They thought he was 'ready' and were counting on him getting his chance. “I also felt 'ready'. I had a good conversation with the management. He said he had received good reports. I certainly understood that I was not going to eliminate Van Dijk, Matip or Konaté. But I thought I could get behind that straight away. When I didn't get a chance again, I said: figure it out, I want to l away again.”
Sepp van den Berg is still under contract with Liverpool, but his preference seems to be a permanent transfer to the Bundesliga. All the broken promises from his club have not made him bitter, but they have caused the love for Liverpool to cool down. Arne Slot wants to see him at work in the preparation, just like his predecessor Klopp. But Van den Berg wants to choose his own path and make a transfer. He is now one of the best defenders in the Bundesliga, and also one of the four fastest central defenders in that competition. As a result, clubs in Germany, the Netherlands and England are queuing up. He wants to make his own choice.
The only issue now is the asking price that Liverpool has in mind. But here too, the well-spoken and down-to-earth Dutchman does not want to be used as a plaything again. He sees it this way: “You have not radiated confidence in me all this time, but you do want to hinder my future. I want to continue playing every week and further develop myself.”
The Bundesliga would be a good choice. There he can play at a high level in nine out of ten matches. “In Germany I enjoy Dortmund away with 70,000 people, Bayern Munich away against Harry Kane, Stuttgart, Leipzig, Leverkusen, I am challenged against those kinds of clubs every week.” And he's doing well. He played one of his best games against Dortmund with Mainz this season. “After 23 minutes we were 3-0 ahead. That was also the final result. We are talking about the Champions League finalist. Five days earlier they had defeated PSG in Paris…”
