Why can Sepp van den Berg play against Liverpool today?

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Sepp van den Berg is able to play against Liverpool for Preston North End later today. So why exactly is that?

Sepp van den Berg joined Preston North End back in February on loan. The move came directly after Liverpool signed Ben Davies from Deepdale, making the loan a sensible transfer for all parties.

And things went well enough that Van den Berg re-joined Preston for this season, too. He’s playing excellently, in fact, as a right-sided midfielder or right-back.

The 19-year-old is usually known as a centre-back, of course. Right now though, he’s showing off tremendous versatility. No wonder, then, that Preston want to play him against Liverpool today.

Why can Sepp van den Berg face Liverpool?

EFL Cup rules stats that a player may play against his parent club as long as there’s permission. In other words, Liverpool have to grant Preston permission to play Van den Berg.

And they’ve done just that. The club announced on Tuesday that Van den Berg could play in the game against Liverpool.

Per the Liverpool Echo, the Reds left the decision to Jurgen Klopp and the boss ultimately said yes.

So why did Liverpool say yes?

Liverpool assistant manager Pep Lijnders tried to explain the decision yesterday.

“It’s like, if you want to be a chef, you need to spend a lot of time in the kitchen!” he said, per Liverpoolfc.com. “So, what would our message be if we sent our players on loan to get good games and then there’s a good game coming and not letting them play?

“We want to give young players opportunities and for Sepp it is an amazing game. I am in contact with him, he looks forward to it and that’s probably the most important thing.”

And you’ve got to say there’s a point there. Liverpool want Van den Berg to develop properly and here’s a magnificent learning experience for him.

Now, we’re not sure Liverpool would have the same attitude if this were a much bigger game. An EFL Cup Fourth Round tie, though? There’s not much harm in letting Van den Berg play.

The club will get an up-close look at how his development is going and how he performs in a right-sided role against top players. The benefits outweigh the risk here.

And in all truth, Liverpool remain overwhelming favourites whether he’s in the team or not. For us, there’s little harm in saying yes.