Brentford man reveals how they beat Bayer Leverkusen to signing – And how Liverpool nearly ruined plans
Brentford man reveals how they beat Bayer Leverkusen to signing – And how Liverpool nearly ruined plans
Brentford defender Sepp van den Berg has admitted many of his suitors in the summer shocked by Liverpool’s asking price in the summer.
The defender has been speaking to Voetbal Primeur about Brentford and his move to the club from Liverpool in the summer.
The 23-year-old Dutchman joined Brentford in a €23.6m deal from Liverpool in the summer when it was made clear he was not a part of Arne Slot’s plans moving forwards.
He had been linked with a move throughout the summer transfer window after returning from a loan spell at Mainz, one of several loan deals he’d been sent out on during hi stime at Anfield.
He ended up with plenty of options on the table, although he admits several of those suitors were shocked by Liverpool’s demands for him.
“I had so many different choices: that really made life difficult, you know,” he said.
“Especially at the beginning, it was nice that the choice was made for me in a number of cases. There was a lot of interest, especially in Germany, but many clubs were shocked by Liverpool’s asking price.”
One of the clubs interested in him were Bayer Leverkusen, with numerous reports in Germany stating that the Bundesliga champions were chasing a move.
They were busy strengthening their squad for Xabi Alonso after an impressive unbeaten season in which they broke Bayern Munich’s domestic dominance and made it to the Europa League final.
The German side ended up in a battle with Brentford for him, with Thomas Frank’s side coming out on top, something Van den Berg has now explained.
“I spoke to Xabi Alonso, as well as to people higher up at Leverkusen,” he added.
“Leverkusen could pay the transfer fee that Liverpool wanted, but someone else had to leave before they could get me. I didn’t want to wait for that. Brentford were very interested in me from day one and very positive about me.”
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