Following a “transfer request,” Liverpool may let go of a wanted player in order to sign Mohamed Salah’s replacement

Sepp van den Berg is apparently drawing interest from PSV Eindhoven and has reportedly urged Liverpool to reduce their asking price for him.

After returning to the AXA Training Centre for the start of pre-season, Sepp van den Berg may be attracting the attention of Arne Slot and his backroom staff, but the centre back is apparently still keen to leave Liverpool this summer in order to play for a first team.

He expressed his desire to leave after a productive season on loan at Mainz 05 during the off-season, and he took aim at the Reds for allegedly pricing him out of a summer transfer after putting a €20 million price tag on his head. For the record, sports director Christian Heidel has spoken out twice about the Bundesliga team’s desire to hold onto the Dutchman.

He stated to Kicker last month that “Sepp is the only one who has made a decision.” He is adamant about wanting to remain in Mainz. That is exactly what he has stated in public.

In the meantime, he stated in an interview with Sky Germany: “It’s difficult, I can’t do that (speed up negotiations).” We’re holding out for. Liverpool and I have communicated multiple times.

“Because they’re all spread out at the European Championships and the Copa America, Liverpool won’t have a central defender present when they start training. Instead, they want to take their time and examine things.” Sepp has expressed his strong desire to remain in Mainz. We truly want to keep him, but Liverpool must now cooperate as well. We’re taking our time and giving Liverpool plenty of it.

Both the Copa America and the European Championships conclude on Sunday, meaning Liverpool will be without three of their four senior center-back options until August. Following their midweek elimination from the competition in the semi-final, Virgil van Dijk and Ibrahima Konate have only recently begun their three-week holidays. Joe Gomez is a member of the England squad that will play against Spain in the Euro 2024 final.

The only other acknowledged first team center-back alternatives beyond Van den Berg involved in pre-season are Jarell Quansah and Nat Phillips, who is also expected to depart Liverpool this summer. As a result, the Dutchman will probably have to wait for his future to be settled.

It’s important to note that Van den Berg has pleased Slot in the first week of training, so the Reds may decide to keep him on staff. In an effort to give the defender more time to shine, the Athletic have revealed that they have already rejected bids from Mainz and VfL Wolfsburg. The Dutchman is reportedly also being eyed by PSV Eindhoven.

Following Joel Matip’s departure at the conclusion of his contract, Liverpool was originally predicted to look for a new center-back this summer. Despite expressing interest in Leny Yoro of Lille, the team currently maintains that strengthening the core of the defence is not a top priority.

They still expecting Real Madrid to get the French centre back, who was judged unrelated to their original transfer ambitions. As a result, even though Manchester United had an accepted proposal for the 18-year-old earlier this week, they have not directly pursued his services.

It remains to be seen whether Van den Berg’s presence at Anfield this summer could lead to a similar decision, since the team previously decided to abandon their hunt for a new center-back last summer after being pleased by Quansah during the preseason. Though the Dutchman caught people’s attention behind the scenes at the AXA Training Centre, his public wish to quit does complicate matters.

Additionally, they assert that Van den Berg’s management and he have informed the Reds that they believe Van den Berg’s €20 million asking price to be “disproportionately high”—a position that PSV unavoidably concurs with.

In all honesty, there would only be one very simple method to lower Van den Berg’s asking price, and PSV would benefit from it more than any of the other teams. They might try to complete two transactions at once by trading for a second player in a sort of swap agreement; Liverpool has experience with doing this kind of thing.

Kevin Stewart swung in the opposite direction, spending £8 million to get Andy Robertson from Hull City, while Ki-Jana Hoever completed a £9 million transfer to Wolves when the Reds signed Diogo Jota for a whopping £45 million.

In January 2021, Van den Berg actually departed the team in a sort of swap deal, going on loan to Preston North End when Liverpool bought Ben Davies for an initial £500k. And just this past summer, while already talking about a loan transfer for Fabio Carvalho, RB Leipzig and I agreed a £60 million trade for Dominik Szoboszlai.

Johan Bakayoko would be a possible perfect bait for PSV as well. The 21-year-old has been linked to the Reds quite a bit lately. The Belgian is regarded as a potential long-term replacement for Mohamed Salah at Anfield, where he is a prolific and quick inverted right-winger who finished with 14 goals and 14 assists while winning the Eredivisie.

Salah, who will be 32 years old next summer, does not have a contract. Liverpool will need to develop a long-term succession plan as they think about life after their long-serving star, whether or not he signs an extension.

Thus, a transaction of that kind might be one method to make sure that everyone is satisfied, allowing Van den Berg to finalise his intended exit and PSV to get beyond that €20 million roadblock. However, only time will tell if it could be suggested should they resume transfer talks with Liverpool this summer.