Liverpool did a transfer U-turn on selling Sepp van den Berg to Blackburn Rovers this summer.
That’s according to Blackburn sporting director Gregg Broughton. In quotes from the Lancashire Telegraph, Broughton claimed that ‘everything was done’ for van den Berg to join his club, before Liverpool pulled the plug.
“We had the moving pieces with [van den Berg] and I think it is open knowledge that he was here, he did his medical, the interviews and the press shots. There was then an injury crisis at Liverpool and they weren’t prepared to sign that off, even though everything was done at our end,” he said.
“As that came towards the end, Liverpool had won 9-0 at home and we got the call to say that things could happen quite quickly. But Schalke then made a player sale to AC Milan overnight and things moved again. We weren’t prepared to wait for Sepp to make his mind up then and we had to move quickly.”
van den Berg finally gets his move
In the end, things probably worked out for the better for van den Berg. After joining Schalke, the 20-year-old has so far been a regular.
It must have been frustrating to see a move collapse like that, though. But at the time, Liverpool couldn’t afford to leave themselves short.
Following Ibrahima Konate’s injury in pre-season Joel Matip had also picked up a knock.
With Joe Gomez also forced to drop out of the starting XI for August’s game against Crystal Palace, the Reds needed to be careful.
As a result, van den Berg could have been set for a bigger role than expected. The Dutchman picked up a couple of appearances in the off-season and looked very assured during 18 months at Preston North End.
Thankfully, Liverpool’s injury worries eased. Finally, the youngster was allowed to leave to get more experience out on-loan.
It’s a shame for Blackburn, who have a good relationship with Liverpool. They clearly needed a centre-back – fellow Reds loanee Tyler Morton was even forced to play there in the Carabao Cup.
Hopefully it doesn’t affect Liverpool’s relationship with the Championship side moving forward. Ewood Park has been a good springboard for the likes of Harvey Elliott and Morton. It would be a real shame to lose that now.
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