Sepp van den Berg joins on loan from Liverpool

1. FSV Mainz 05 have secured the services of Sepp van den Berg for the upcoming season. The Netherlands U21 international joins on loan from Liverpool. Despite being only 21 years old, van den Berg has already picked up plenty of experience at the highest level, playing for FC Schalke 04 in the Bundesliga, as well as 66 competitive games in the EFL Championship, EFL Cup and FA Cup for Preston North End. Van den Berg made his debut for PEC Zwolle as a 17-year-old, having come through their academy, before subsequently moving to Liverpool. Van den Berg will initially join the Zerofivers for the 2023/24 season. There is the possibility that his stay at Mainz will be over a longer period of time, the basis for this will remain undisclosed by both clubs.

Van den Berg: Klopp waxed lyrical about Mainz

Zerofivers sporting director Martin Schmidt: "We have been in close communication with Sepp since the end of the season. He was quickly convinced of our project here at Mainz 05 and made us aware of this early on. What followed was intense conversations and negotiations with officials at Liverpool – so it's even nicer that Sepp is now here at Mainz 05 to take this next step in his career."

"Sepp is a young, unbelievably talented centre-back, who already possesses a lot of good qualities: He has good technique, reading of the game, physicality and mentality. We had some really good conversations and quickly had the feeling from both sides that it would be a good fit. Together, we want to help Sepp take his game to another level and make him even better, so that his potential can continue to develop even further," said head coach Bo Svensson.

Sepp van den Berg: "I had conversations with Mainz 05 and especially with Bo Svensson early on, and I really like the way that he sees football and wants to play football here. Before I came here, I obviously also spoke with Jürgen Klopp – he waxed lyrical about Mainz and said that I would feel completely at home here. I have been to the stadium before, know the fans and am looking forward to achieving something together with the team."