02 June 2024 , 04:00
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Liverpool defender Sepp van den Berg insists he has no interest in trying to impress new Kop boss Arne Slot after accusing Jurgen Klopp of damaging his career.
Van den Berg, 22, who has just spent an impressive season on-loan at Klopp’s former club Mainz, wants the chance to continue in the Bundesliga on a permanent basis. He feels Liverpool failed to keep promises made to him about his development at Anfield after moving to Merseyside in a £1.3million deal with PEC Zwolle in 2019.
And he is unhappy that the Reds may now be blocking his escape route from the club by demanding £20million for a player who has not made a single Premier League appearance despite being good enough to be capped by Holland at Under-21 level.
Fellow Dutchman Slot has taken over from Klopp after leaving Feyenoord.
But Van den Berg said: “In all honesty, I am no longer being looked after. Now I want to keep playing weekly and develop myself further.
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“In Germany, I enjoy Dortmund with 70,000 people, Bayern Munich against Harry Kane, Stuttgart, Leipzig, Leverkusen - against clubs like that I am challenged every week.’
“I knew very well that I could not go from PEC Zwolle straight into Liverpool's first team when I moved. I could have had one or two more years at Liverpool, but I wanted to play and so I demanded to be let out.
Liverpool defender Sepp van den Berg in action for Mainz earlier this season (Getty Images)“Every time, I felt I was getting better and better and that I was also making great strides physically. I felt ready. I had a good conversation with the manager who said he had received good reports.
“But I understood very well that I was not going to play ahead of Virgil van Dijk, Joel Matip or Ibrahima Konate. I still felt I could be right behind them, but when I was not given a chance again, I told them to sort it out and that I wanted to leave again.
“Liverpool did not radiate confidence in me all this time, but they now want to hinder my future.”
Van den Berg made three Carabao Cup appearances and played a single game in the FA Cup for Liverpool.
He has been sent on loan to Preston, Schalke and then Mainz, where he excelled to such an extent that the Anfield club are now demanding £20million for his services.
Van den Berg, who reported back to Liverpool during the week to undergo a series of physical tests, has a 19-year-old brother called Rev who plays for Middlesbrough.
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