Liverpool already have an ‘incredibly talented’ young defender who has better defensive numbers than Leny Yoro

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Liverpool are set to miss out on the signing of Leny Yoro, with the youngster on the verge of joining Manchester United.

The Reds are still yet to make any concrete moves in the transfer market. However, centre-back had looked like an area of interest.

As a result, Yoro was said to be a ‘dream’ target for Liverpool. But with the Reds convinced Yoro was joining Real Madrid, they chose to stay on the fringes of the race.

Even when things changed on Wednesday and it became clear that United were winning the battle, Liverpool had two reasons not to push for Yoro: money and a lack of opportunity for him in the Liverpool squad.

While the first of those reasons will have fans tearing their hair out, we’d argue that one young Liverpool player actually makes the second a very valid point indeed.

Sepp van den Berg outscores Leny Yoro

Plenty of Liverpool supporters will be highly dissatisfied by their failure to land Yoro this summer.

Liverpool saw Yoro as a generational talent and with the Frenchman heading to United and not Real Madrid, it will sting even more.

Nevertheless, the Reds could yet go on to have the last laugh. It should be remembered that they have a young centre-back of their own who was excelling in a top five European league last season.

We are of course talking about Sepp van den Berg. After joining Liverpool in 2019, Van den Berg has blossomed into one of the best young defenders in Europe via a series of loans.

READ MORE: All the signs point to Sepp van den Berg being Liverpool’s ‘new’ centre-back

With Arne Slot impressed by Van den Berg in pre-season training so far, there is a distinct chance that he is promoted full-time to the first-team next season.

Certainly, when comparing the 22-year-old against Yoro last season, Van den Berg stacks up very well indeed.

Using Squawka’s Comparison Matrix, it becomes clear that the Liverpool man is perhaps still going under the radar as a real talent. It’s clear to see why Van den Berg was called ‘incredibly talented‘ by Mainz boss Bo Svensson.

After measuring some key defensive statistics across the Bundesliga for Van den Berg and Ligue 1 for Yoro, perhaps Reds fans will become a little less disappointed to lose out on the Lille youngster.

Where does Sepp van den Berg beat Leny Yoro?

To compare Van den Berg and Yoro, we took eight key defensive statistics. These are: duels contested, tackles made, take-on success, aerial duel success, ground duel success, clearances, interceptions and blocked shots.

Depending on how you want your defenders to play, these will vary in importance. But they’re all part and parcel of what makes up a top centre-back.

Out of the eight metrics, Van den Berg wins the head-to-head in five, per 90 minutes. The Liverpool youngster scored better on duels contested (11.3 vs 5.6), aerial duel success (68% vs 65%), clearances (4.9 vs 3.3), interceptions (1.4 vs 1.3) and blocked shots (1.2 vs 0.5)

Yoro comes out on top in ground duel success, beating Van den Berg 61% to 56%. Chuck in long pass accuracy and the 18-year-old also wins that, 52% to 40%.

Van den Berg is obviously a little older than Yoro and played 160 or so more minutes last season, but he also now looks ready to be a real player for Liverpool. Don’t be too disheartened, Reds. We’ve got a gem.