'Signing for Liverpool was amazing at first - but I got dropped to the reserves and people forgot about me'

Sepp van den Berg has insisted that Liverpool wanted him to stay at the club - but felt he needed a new start.

The defender spent five years on the Reds’ books after joining from PEC Zwolle in 2019. However, Van den Berg struggled for first-team opportunities at Anfield. He made just four appearances and had loans at Championship side Preston North End and Bundesliga clubs Schalke and Mainz respectively. He was highly impressed at the latter last season, which meant the Dutchman attracted significant interest in the summer transfer window.

Arne Slot, who took over from Jurgen Klopp in the Liverpool hot seat, gave Van den Berg substantial minutes during pre-season. But after Virgil van Dijk, Ibrahima Konate and Joe Gomez arrived back from Euro 2024 duty, Van den Berg found himself as fifth-choice centre-back, with Jarell Quansah also ahead in the pecking order.

And although the Reds were reluctant to lose the former Netherlands under-21s international, he subsequently completed a permanent departure to Premier League rivals Brentford for a fee of £25 million.

Van den Berg, who has played 12 matches for Thomas Frank’s 11th-placed Bees so far, told the club’s website: “Liverpool wanted me to stay but I knew what I wanted - I wanted to be the guy that was starting week in, week out. I was very fortunate that there was a lot of interest but it also made it very difficult, it was a luxury problem to have!

“For me, Brentford was one of the first clubs interested and, as well as getting the chance to play in the Premier League and live in London, it was speaking with Thomas Frank. The first meeting we had, he was asking me some straight questions: ‘Why do you want to play for Brentford? Why do we need you at Brentford?!’ It was so direct, it was like a proper job interview!

“Then, me and Thomas had lots of phone calls and messages - he would call me every other week and we’d speak on WhatsApp and stuff - he’s just a very, very nice person. “Of course, the football part has to be right as well - and it was. But Thomas just made me feel like I was really wanted here.”

Van den Berg made a switch to Liverpool against the backdrop of Klopp’s side winning the Champions League. But chances to play for the Reds were difficult given that Van Dijk, Gomez, Joel Matip and Dejan Lovren were on the books when he arrived, while Konate was signed two years later.

Van den Berg was just 17 when he moved from the Netherlands to Merseyside and admitted that he struggled with loneliness in his early years. He added: “I know I’m very privileged. I’m living the dream. But it’s not always as easy as it looks. For example, when I first moved to Liverpool as a 17-year-old; looking back, it was very difficult. I had some tough times there.

“At first, I was training with the first team and everything was amazing, it couldn’t get any better. My dreams came true: I was playing for one of the biggest teams in the world. But then I got dropped into the reserves and people started to forget about me a little bit. And then you come home,I lived alone, I had no one to talk to. That was hard for me. I struggled with that quite a lot because I was used to being surrounded by a big family where there’s a lot going on and there was always lots of people around me.

“I didn’t talk to anyone about my feelings at the start, which made things really hard. I was in my own head, coming home and staring at the walls with nothing to do. I would just go home after training, I didn’t do anything with any of my team-mates, which obviously led to me struggling to make new friends."

Van den Berg did praise the impact that his compatriot Van Dijk had on him, though. The now-Liverpool captain ensured that the fresh-faced teenager sat next to him in the dressing room to help Van den Berg settle.

“Virgil van Dijk made me feel really welcome,” Van den Berg said. “I remember, on my first day, he said to the kit man, ‘Make sure his place in the dressing room is next to mine’, and it was those small things that made me feel more at home.

“From a footballing perspective, it was just watching him in training and in matches, he was the best defender in the world at that stage… those moments will always stay with me. “Watching what he does, how he plays, how he speaks, how he leads the team - to see that up close was priceless.”