Liverpool have reportedly entered into negotiations with Mainz over a permanent transfer for Dutch centre-half Sepp van den Berg.
The 22-year-old had spent the season on loan with the Bundesliga outfit, helping them achieve a 13th-place finish.
Florian Plettenberg now reports on X (formerly Twitter) that the former PEC Zwolle defender is keen to extend his stay by the Rhine River.
🔴 Excl. News Sepp van den Berg | Negotiations between Liverpool and Mainz about a permanent deal have started! #LFC
Mainz 05 want to keep the 22 y/o central defender. And van den Berg, eager to stay.
Mainz bosses, optimistic to find an agreement with Liverpool soon.… pic.twitter.com/4wuKRUmmtZ
— Florian Plettenberg (@Plettigoal) June 7, 2024
Empire of the Kop on Instagram (@empireofthekop) HERE
Playing minutes with the Reds’ senior team have been hard to come by, with Van den Berg only accumulating four games’ worth of experience.
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A move that benefits all parties
It’s a shame to see a talented young defender leave Liverpool, but there will be no hard feelings if the move does go through to completion.
Ultimately, we can’t really see where our 2019 signing fits in this squad. There’s every chance he’ll continue to struggle for minutes whilst competing with the likes of Virgil van Dijk and Ibrahima Konate.
Mainz will get a player who’s clearly quite comfortable plying his trade in German football and we’ll hopefully bring in something at least close to our £20m valuation of the player to bolster the transfer kitty.
Theoretically, everyone’s a winner in this potential scenario!