Fabrizio Romano: Liverpool defender subject to €10m bid amid ‘difficult’ transfer claim 

Liverpool’s Sepp van den Berg could exit this summer but the club’s €20m valuation could prove to be a blockade. 

The 22-year-old has just enjoyed the best season of his senior career to date having played a key role in Mainz’s survival in the Bundesliga. Having started the majority of games, he experienced a key learning year in Germany and is now searching for his next steps. 

While a path to the first-team is visible, it’s also convoluted. There are four senior centre-backs yet Virgil van Dijk is in the final year of his deal and Joe Gomez played predominantly at left-back last season - and they have been linked with moves for centre-backs.  But there is also a route away; PSV have been credited with strong interest and have had a €10m bid rejected by Liverpool, according to Fabrizio Romano. As the club value him around €20m, any bid will likely be rejected. Romano tweeted: “Understand PSV Eindhoven have sent formal bid to Liverpool for Sepp van den Berg at the end of last week, worth around €10m. Liverpool have immediately rejected the proposal.”

Speaking earlier in pre-season, Van den Berg opened up on his transfer valuation of around €20m, a fee that Liverpool would want to hold out for in the event of a departure - but it has been a stumbling block for other clubs thus far. 

"The first reaction from me was that it was quite high! Of course, it is a compliment in one way. It’s a sign of how well I did last year. But it makes it a bit more difficult the other way. If they only thought I was worth £2m that wouldn’t be nice! But £20m is maybe on the high side.”

Whether or not the Dutchman was hinting for the club to reduce their valuation or not is moot, as PSV will have to put forward a higher bid regardless. However, it will likely have to be a club record fee; their €15m purchase of Hirving Lozano is tied with Jerdy Schouten.