OPINION
A new signing is always greeted with great jubilance at Liverpool – especially after they beat other European giants to any potential incoming.
That is the case with their latest reported addition in PEC Zwolle defender Sepp van den Berg, with the Telegraph suggesting Jurgen Klopp fought off competition from Bayern Munich and Ajax for the 17-year-old.
The newspaper claims on their website that Liverpool will only pay £1.79million, which can be considered a bargain after the young enforcer’s break-out season under Jaap Stam.
It was also suggested that van den Berg will spend next season in the academy set up at Anfield, before attempting to make an impression on the first team squad the year after.
This could come too early for the youngster, especially in a defence which has improved so drastically under Klopp in the previous two seasons.
When comparing the 17-year-old to Liverpool’s current defensive options via WhoScored, he struggles against Virgil Van Dijk – the player van den Berg has been compared to before in his career.
Van Dijk managed to form a great partnership with Joel Matip towards the end of the previous campaign, with the two outperforming van den Berg and Joe Gomez in almost every area.
The Dutch starlet does, however, perform similarly to Gomez, who has had to settle into a back-up role after suffering an injury in the previous Premier League season.
Klopp has introduced a fast possession-based style that sees his side dominate the ball to create constant pressure on their opponents. The PEC Zwolle defender struggles next to Liverpool’s main three defenders once in control of the ball – averaging the least amount of passes on average per game.
It could well come down to a battle between the Dutch youngster and Gomez for the main back-up role in defence, with van den Berg definitely needing to improve his game in possession to be able to compete with the England international.
However, at five years his junior, he has plenty of time to make up that ground.
