4 months ago
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Photo by Andrew Powell/Liverpool FC via Getty Images
English reports have Liverpool rejecting Mainz and Wolfsburg approaches but the club’s stance could change when senior stars return.
Sepp van den Berg has made it clear in recent months that he doesn’t appreciate the way his career has gone at Liverpool, with the Reds loaning out the now 22-year-old repeatedly over the years with stops at Preston North End, Schalke, and Mainz.
At least one of those clubs, Mainz where he spent last season, has also made it clear they would like to sign him permanently and the suggestion has been that the player himself would be open to it. Now, there are reports Wolfsburg are also interested.
However, according to The Athletic’s James Pearce, approaches from those two Bundesliga clubs has been rejected by Liverpool as they want to give Van den Berg a chance to impress new manager Arne Slot in pre-season. It’s far from surprising news.
In fact, as recently as last week reports from the Mainz side of the transfer story had the German club signalling that they didn’t expect a quick resolution—but suggested it was mostly to do with Liverpool currently missing a few senior centre halves.
Certainly Van den Berg will have the opportunity to impress Arne Slot and maybe even convince the club he has a role to play this season. But also the Reds are currently without Virgil van Dijk, Ibrahima Konaté, and Joe Gomez due to the ongoing Euros.
Simply put, they are short on bodies to start pre-season. And so Van den Berg will stay, at least for now. The only real difference between the German and English reports, then, is in whether the focus is on those absent defenders or his chance to impress.
