Brentford have completed the signing of Liverpool defender Sepp van den Berg on a permanent transfer for up to £25m – including add-ons.
Van den Berg, who has signed a five-year contract with the Bees until 2029, is the second player to move from Liverpool to Brentford at vast expense this summer after Fabio Carvalho. The Portuguese attacker sealed a £27.5m switch to west London earlier this month.
Brentford are unsurprisingly pleased with their capture of Van den Berg.
“I think this is a great signing for the club and the team,” manager Thomas Frank said.
“Sepp is a centre-back with a good level and he has the potential to develop even further. He fits our culture and the way we want to play: he is quick, he reads the game well and is composed on the ball in the build-up and in the decisive defending actions. Sepp is a great character, and I am convinced that he will fit in well with the group and help us to push forward.”
But it also marks excellent business for Liverpool, turning a major profit on a fringe player with no realistic chance of anything more than a peripheral role this season. The Reds signed Van den Berg for an initial £1.3m from Dutch side PEC Zwolle back in 2019, spending most of the last five years out on loan and playing just four competitive first-team games – none at all since 2020.
Van den Berg was not the only young player to leave Liverpool on Thursday. Bobby Clark, 19-year-old son of former Newcastle United, Sunderland and Fulham midfielder Lee Clark, has joined RB Leipzig for a reported £10m. It means, without losing any key first-team players or regular starters that would weaken the squad, Liverpool sales this summer have risen above £62m.
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