5 months ago
99 
Photo by Harry Langer/picture alliance via Getty Images
The club have set their value for the young defender but will wait until after pre-season to consider a sale.
Following a successful loan spell at Mainz, the summer of 2024 is set to be a decisive one for Sepp van den Berg at Liverpool. Now 22 years old, the plan is to give incoming manager Arne Slot the chance to coach the player in person before coming to a final decision.
However, there appears a high likelihood that Van den Berg could subsequently be sold with the club reportedly having put a valuation of £20M on the Dutch centre half and with Southampton and Brentford in the Premier League both said to be interested in him.
It had previously been suggested that Mainz would seek to keep him and might be able to exploit a cut-rate clause in the loan agreement in order to do so, but it appears any such reports were wide of the mark—there is no clause, and there will be no cut-rate sale.
Van den Berg made 35 appearances for Mainz last season as the Rhineland club finished 13th in the Bundesliga, making for a far more successful season for club and player than the previous season at Schalke where he played nine games and the club were relegated.
Other mid-table German clubs, including Wolfsburg, have also been linked to the player, but at a £20M transfer fee a move within England would seem more likely for the defender should he not have a breakout summer for the Reds and their incoming manager.
