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The Liverpool loanee provided a standout cameo at the Bet365 Stadium as Preston were held to a 0-0 draw against Stoke City.
Sepp van den Berg is a man in hot demand for next season already as the 19-year-old continues to flourish in the second tier with Preston North End.
The teenager made a switch from Eredivisie side PEC Zwolle to Liverpool in 2019 for a fee of £1.3 million and was the club’s first signing since becoming champions of Europe.
Yet to feature in the top flight, van den Berg featured four times for the red side of Merseyside in the FA Cup and Carabao Cup before joining North End to get minutes under his belt.
It was the perfect transition for the teenager as former Preston defender Ben Davies signed on a permanent basis for the Reds, meaning a spot was freed up for the Dutchman in Preston’s backline.
Since arriving in January, the 19-year-old has featured 12 times for the Lilywhites and has showcased how Liverpool could benefit from his versatility at the back.
He has been deployed as a right wing-back more often than not but against Stoke City, he played on the right side of a back three. Loanee Liam Lindsay was ineligible due to Stoke being his parent club so the Dutchman shuffled inside to occupy right centre-back while Tom Barkhuizen started at right-wing back.
He thrived in that position for the entire 90 minutes although he did face an early scare. Potters forward Christian Norton ran off his shoulder and raced in behind but the centre-back matched the striker with an impressive recovery run and managed to get back in and shrug the striker off the ball.
From then on, van den Berg recognised Norton wanted to stretch the backline and get in behind more often, so he constantly read his marker’s intentions and tracked every movement he made.
Due to his defensive awareness, Stoke City’s left flank of Norton, Josh Tymon and Rhys Norrington-Davies were shut down and when the Potters did manage to deliver crosses into the area, van den Berg or his defensive partners cleared their lines effectively.
Interim head coach Frankie McAvoy was satisfied with the teenager’s performance:
”I thought he did very well. There were just a couple of times he was just a bit over eager to go and steal it on the front foot. But he’s young, We’ve tried him in a few positions.
”I thought today with Liam (Lindsay) being unavailable, I was comfortable with the three boys at centre back, Sepp (van den Berg), Jordan (Storey) and Hughesy (Andrew Hughes) and over the piece I thought they defended very well.
”I am delighted with them and I thought Sepp performed admirably.”
Liverpool could benefit from van den Berg’s versatility in the future. RB Leipzig’s Ibrahima Konate is on the Reds’ radar but is expensive, Joel Matip is injury prone, Joe Gomez is still under-going rehabilitation on his knee alongside Virgil Van Dijk, and Rhys Williams has been exposed in the top flight. Therefore, the Dutchman could be worth a punt under Klopp in a more rotational role next season.
However, for his own personal development, a full campaign in England’s second-tier would make more sense. Preston will be keen on bringing the Dutchman back on loan in 2021/22 along with several other clubs.
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