The news that Liverpool had placed a £20million valuation on centre-back Sepp van den Berg, as reported by The Athletic last week, was one of the summer’s more surprising developments.
The 22-year-old last played for Liverpool in February 2020 in an FA Cup replay victory against Shrewsbury, when Neil Critchley took charge of a team comprised of under-21s as Jurgen Klopp and the first team squad were on their winter break.
Since that game, Van den Berg has had four loan moves: two at Championship side Preston North End over 18 months, a campaign ruined by injury at Schalke and, most recently, his breakout top-flight season at Mainz.
So what does the future hold for the defender?
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The state of play
Mainz have not given up hope of a permanent return for Van den Berg this summer but, after contact was made between the clubs, the difference in valuations is proving a significant stumbling block.
Liverpool’s high asking price will not surprise those who remember the work of Michael Edwards from his first stint at Liverpool. (Edwards is back at the club having begun his role as Fenway Sports Group’s chief executive of football on June 1.)
Part of Edwards’ impressive reputation came from the value he extracted from the market, selling young players who hadn’t quite made the grade at Liverpool. The sales of Brad Smith (£6million; $7.6m), Jordon Ibe (£15m) and Dominik Solanke (£19m) to Bournemouth and Rhian Brewster (£23.5m) to Sheffield United were all viewed as excellent business.
Mainz are not the only club pursuing Van den Berg, who has attracted interest from other clubs in Germany and the Netherlands. Premier League sides Brentford and Southampton have also shown interest.
Sepp van den Berg has not played for Liverpool since this FA Cup tie against Shrewsbury in 2020 (Paul Ellis/AFP via Getty Images)
A decision on his future is unlikely until Liverpool’s new head coach Arne Slot assesses the defender in pre-season. The club are considering bolstering their centre-back options after Joel Matip’s departure at the end of his contract, but any move will hinge on Van den Berg’s future.
Van den Berg will have a chance to impress Slot while Virgil van Dijk, Ibrahima Konate and Joe Gomez are all at Euro 2024. Of last season’s senior centre-back options, only Jarell Quansah will be at the AXA Training Centre on Slot’s first day.
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The big question is whether van den Berg is interested in trying to break through at Liverpool. In a recent interview with the Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf, he did not give the impression of someone desperate to make a big impression on the new manager.
“(Liverpool) didn’t exude confidence in me all this time, but you do want to hinder my future,” he said. “I want to keep playing every week and develop myself further.”
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How did he get on at Mainz last season?
After his loan spell at Schalke in 2022-23 was wrecked by a serious ankle ligament injury, Van den Berg returned to the Bundesliga with Mainz. It was a smart move — he made significant strides while performing consistently for a side battling against relegation.
Van den Berg played as part of a back three, starting 31 matches in the Bundesliga. His role varied early in the season due to injuries but eventually, he settled into his role as the middle centre-back in a 3-4-3 system and played the most league minutes of any Mainz player (2,839).
Mainz, unsurprisingly, want to retain his services. Alongside his solid defensive work, Van den Berg carries a threat from attacking set pieces. He scored the second goal in a final-day 3-1 victory against Wolfsburg — a win that sealed Mainz’s survival.
Sepp van den Berg had a breakthrough season at Mainz (Neil Baynes/Getty Images)
Is he good enough for Liverpool?
To be a perfect Liverpool centre-back under Klopp, players had to be comfortable on the ball, pass progressively and deal with large spaces in behind that could be exploited by counter-attacking teams.
Slot also required his Feyenoord centre-backs to be ball players but that is the one key area Van den Berg failed to demonstrate last season, highlighted by his low rating in his smarterscout pizza chart (below), which scores players from zero to 99 on different areas of their game, based on how often or how effectively they perform an action.
Van den Berg did not progress the ball either through passing (‘progressive passing’, six out of 99) or carrying (‘carry and dribble volume’, six out of 99) and he was not safe in possession, either (ball retention, ’20 out of 99′). These numbers do not strengthen his case as an obvious Matip replacement.
The caveat is that he was playing for a team fighting towards the bottom of the Bundesliga. Mainz were set up to defend and had little of the dominance that Liverpool expect to have during matches. Under three managers last season (Bo Svensson, Jan Siewert and Bo Henriksen), Mainz’s play was centred on long and direct balls into the channels.
According to data website Fbref, Van den Berg’s passing accuracy was 81 per cent — that might sound solid, but it places him in the bottom fifth of centre-backs in Europe’s ‘big five’ leagues. The types of balls he was asked to play had an impact — as the middle centre-back in the defence, he was not asked to be the ball-progressor.
As shown in the table below, the style differences between Liverpool and Mainz are evident, and Slot will need to work out if Van den Berg can adapt and provide enough in possession.
Liverpool centre-back passing statistics
| Stat (per 90) | Virgil van Dijk | Ibrahima Konate | Jarell Quansah | Sepp van den Berg |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Passes attempted |
82.7 |
83.6 |
91 |
46.6 |
|
Pass completion (%) |
91.3 |
88.1 |
89.7 |
81 |
|
Progressive passes |
5.6 |
6.2 |
4.7 |
3 |
|
Progressive carries |
0.9 |
1.4 |
1 |
0.2 |
What Van den Berg did showcase was his ability to defend. He was rarely caught out of position, helped by his pace. He was not the most active defender (‘defending intensity’, 26 out of 99), but there was control in his defensive actions and he stopped teams from progressing the ball frequently (‘defending impact’, 55 out of 99).
It was never reckless. Instead, he was relaxed and assured — highlighted by his impressive ability to break up opposition attacks through ball recoveries and interceptions (90 out of 99), proving he could read the game.
According to Fbref, he ranked in the top two percentile in the Bundesliga for blocks (2.1 per 90 minutes) and also recorded five clearances and 1.36 interceptions per 90 minutes — both above average compared to his peers.
Van den Berg may not look it on TV, but he is physically imposing. He stands at 6ft 4in (192cm) and his experience in the Championship at Preston helped him develop his physical strength, which explains why he is so dominant aerially (‘aerial duels quantity’, 99 out of 99).
Sepp van den Berg developed during a loan spell at Preston North End (Clive Rose/Getty Images)
According to Fbref, among fellow centre-backs in Europe’s top five leagues, Van den Berg was in the top one percentile for aerial duels won per 90 minutes (5.4).
Van den Berg may fit as Liverpool’s fourth- or fifth-choice centre-back depending on incomings and where Slot decides to deploy Gomez, who would rather play in the middle than at full-back.
The Dutch defender could be an option for domestic cup matches and to step up in the event of injuries to senior team-mates. Spending time on the training ground with Slot will allow the new manager to develop Van den Berg for the demands of the centre-back role at Anfield.
The problem is that this may not fit the player’s vision. Van den Berg is a man in a hurry, and might not want to wait at Liverpool.
(Top photo: Christian Kaspar-Bartke/Getty Images)
