Report: Liverpool are now delaying letting 20-year-old leave, Klopp may need him in the first-team

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Liverpool are still deciding whether or not to allow Sepp van den Berg to leave the club on-loan this summer.

That’s according to the Lancashire Telegraph, who claim that The Reds are ‘weighing up’ offers, including one from Blackburn Rovers.

It’s claimed that Liverpool are keen to make sure they’re not left ‘short of numbers’ by letting van den Berg go.

In light of injury to Ibrahima Konate, Jurgen Klopp may still need him. Nat Phillips is reportedly ‘attracting interest’ too,and Klopp must now make a call on which centre-back to keep on the books.

Konate injury leaves Liverpool looking short

You can see the dilemma here. Without Konate, Liverpool need a fourth choice centre-back. As the Frenchman could potentially be missing for several months, it’s important that The Reds don’t shoot themselves in the foot.

As the next two in line, Liverpool can’t afford to lose both van den Berg and Phillips. They do have teenager Jarell Quansah in reserve too, but he’s never played senior football at any level.

So, in short, it’ll be either Phillips or van den Berg who fill in when any or all of Joe Gomez, Joel Matip and Virgil Van Dijk aren’t around.

Of course, that still won’t amount to too much football, unless one of that trio picks up an injury.

As a result, we think it’s best to keep van den Berg around. He was mightily impressive on-loan at Preston North End over the last 18 months and looked very assured in pre-season.

Hopefully Konate will be back well in time for the January transfer window. That would potentially allow the 20-year-old to leave for the second half of the season if needs be.

As for Phillips, he really needs game time. Coming up to twenty-six, he’s never going to be a regular option at Liverpool. Added to the fact that he could make Liverpool a decent fee, he should be the one on the chopping board. Equally, maybe they’ll feel van den Berg doesn’t have the experience required.

Let’s see what Jurgen and the team decide over the coming weeks.

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