Transfers

Moving In

Born five days before Christmas 2001 in Zwolle, a city in the Netherlands with a population of around 125,000, Sepp van den Berg joined the youth ranks of his local club PEC Zwolle at the age of 11 in 2012. Before that he had trained with CSV '28, a Dutch amateur club.

A centre-back who has also played at right-back, he progressed so well that 'Seppi', as he was nicknamed in Holland, was invited to train with PEC Zwolle's first-team by manager John van 't Schip during their 2017 Pre-Season campaign when he was just 15.

“I had a chat with him and said it was a good experience for you but go back to the U19s and keep developing. At that time he was still going to school too,” van ’t Schip told the Liverpool ECHO. “In the second part of the year we got him in more regularly. We needed him because of some injuries so we brought him in and he did okay.”

It was 11th March 2018 when 16-year-old van den Berg made his PEC Zwolle debut as a half-time substitute in a 2-0 Eredivisie defeat to FC Groningen. He went on to make seven appearances in total in 2017/18 and played in 16 league and cup games last season, although he was utilised less when Jaap Stam took over as PEC Zwolle manager and spent time away with the U19s national team.

Even so, Liverpool FC scouts had been suitably impressed by the centre-back, who is known for his calmness on the ball and having pace, and despite interest from some of Europe's other biggest clubs a deal was agreed to bring the 17-year-old to Merseyside.

“It’s just an amazing feeling,” he told liverpoolfc.com after signing a long-term contract with the European champions. “It is, for me, the biggest club in the world and it’s a dream come true. I am really excited. I’ve seen what kind of players from the Academy grew into the first team here. It is unbelievable, especially when this kind of big club does that.”

Capped three times at Netherlands U19s level during the UEFA U19s European Championships in Armenia in March, Sepp's dad is moving to Liverpool for a while to help his son acclimatise to life in a new country and the ambitious teenager has already set himself targets to achieve.

“I can say Liverpool has the best fans in the world, so I am really excited to hopefully play with them behind me,” he said. “Short-term [my aim] is to be with the first team, develop myself, grow into the team and see how it goes. Long-term, I really want to be a legend here.”