‘Highest rated’: Arne Slot could finally unleash 4-app Liverpool monster in 2024/25
Is it time for Sepp van den Berg to be handed another shot at Liverpool?
The arrival of Arne Slot heralds an exciting opportunity for the experienced and forgotten men at Anfield.
With WhoScored’s rating system adjudging the 22-year-old to be the ‘highest rated centre-back in the Bundesliga’ this term, it may be time for the Reds’ coaching team to reconsider his future.
Sepp van den Berg was the highest rated centre-back in the Bundesliga in 2023/24 (7.04). ????
Ready to play a part under Arne Slot at #LFC next season? pic.twitter.com/Y23X5lbGsI
— WhoScored.com (@WhoScored) May 23, 2024
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Has Van den Berg enjoyed a good season with Mainz?
Let us put it this way: if Van den Berg wasn’t currently on our books and we were looking for a young centre-half we could secure potentially on the cheap, you’d understand why the Zwolle-born star’s name might come up.
The Daily Mail report that he’s clocked a top speed of 34.78kmh whilst in Germany. An impressive degree of pace that would surely be a boon to any Premier League side hoping to play a high line without getting hurt on the counter.
Is he as solid on the ball, specifically, progressing play with a pass like Van Dijk or with movement on the ball like Joel Matip?
The statistical profile generated by FBref would not suggest as much, which may very well work against him at Liverpool.
It just remains to be seen whether this is a systematic fault from his time with the 13th-placed Bundesliga outfit.
Will he be sold to Mainz?
German outlet Kicker now claims that Sepp van den Berg (only on four senior appearances with Liverpool) could be sold to Mainz for as little as €5m (£4.2m).
Let’s be clear here: a figure below £5m for allegedly the ‘highest-rated centre-back’ in the Bundesliga in 2023/24 is an astoundingly cut-price fee by our estimations.
At 22 years of age as well, the only way is up for a very young defender with his best years well ahead of him.
Even if decision-makers at Anfield believe he doesn’t have the quality necessary to make it a European giant like Liverpool, we’d be disappointed to see him cut loose for such a minuscule fee.
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