Arne Slot has been really impressed by £20m player during his first training sessions at Liverpool

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It’s a big summer for Liverpool players as they try their best to impress new head coach Arne Slot.

For near enough every single player at the club right now, the only manager they’ve ever known is Jurgen Klopp.

Having been there for so many years, Klopp will have been fairly set in his ideas about every player from the first-team squad to the academy.

However, the arrival of Slot has given everyone a fresh start. With so many Liverpool players still away on holiday or on international duty, some more fringe players should be doing all they can to impress the new head coach.

For some of them, their futures are on the line. Others can lay down an early marker before some of their more senior teammates return to the AXA Training Centre.

Sepp van den Berg impresses Arne Slot

With Liverpool so far deciding not to act in the summer transfer market, Slot and his coaching staff will no doubt be assessing the merits of every player they’re seeing on the training pitches.

For a lot of them, this will be their only time working with the Dutchman. Once the bigger stars start returning, they’ll drop back down to the academy.

Should they catch Slot or Sipke Hulshoff’s eye though, they’ll probably stick around. That could also end up having a bearing on what Liverpool do in terms of signings.

At this moment, the most pressing area the Reds could do with entering the market for is in central defence.

Slot is slightly light at the back following Joel Matip’s exit and there have been suggestions that Liverpool could sign Leny Yoro, for example.

READ MORE: Liverpool very close to announcing two new staff members for Arne Slot

Those links appear to have gone quiet in recent weeks, though. Part of the reason for that could be that Liverpool are preparing to give Sepp van den Berg a chance.

Van den Berg reportedly wants to leave Liverpool, but according to The Athletic, the Reds have turned down bids from both Wolfsburg and Mainz for the 22-year-old.

Although they’re claimed to have £20m valuation of Van den Berg, the Netherlands U21 international is said to have ‘impressed’ Slot during his early training sessions with Liverpool.

Van den Berg is said to have registered the highest average speed during the pre-season running tests and the Reds coaches reportedly think the Dutchman has ‘gone up a level’ since last year. As a result, Slot is claimed to set to give Van den Berg a chance over the summer.

Sepp van den Berg must use Liverpool opportunity

Van den Berg should have been heartened by what he saw from Jarell Quansah at Liverpool last season. The 21-year-old proved that it is possible to break into the Reds side at centre-back.

With a spot opening up following Matip’s exit, the Reds are clearly on the lookout for another option in defence for the squad.

Back early and already impressing Slot, the chance is now primed for Sepp. Van den Berg is actually from the same town as Slot in the Netherlands and this ‘in’ should give him the basis to curry favour with the new boss.

Putting all of this together, we actually think that Van den Berg will be Liverpool’s ‘new’ centre-back next season.

The youngster has been excellent while out on-loan and if he can translate that form into pre-season, he should become part of the first-team. Those desperate for a new signing may not be happy, but we think that would be smart decision from Liverpool.