£25m Liverpool academy graduate makes 'best in the WORLD' claim

Liverpool’s youth products have really had a moment for themselves this season.

Trey Nyoni and Tyler Morton have both been involved in multiple first-team squads, whilst Ben Doak, Lewis Koumas and Owen Beck are all making waves at their Championship loan clubs.

But players who actually departed the club full-time have been up and down, with Bobby Clark’s spell at Salzburg not exactly going to plan.

One man who seems to have made the right decision to leave, however, is Sepp van den Berg.

The Dutch centre-back, who signed for Liverpool from PEC Zwolle when he was 17, only made four total appearances for the Reds as he was shipped out to loans at Preston, Schalke, and Mainz.

But he made a move to Brentford for a deal rising to £25m this past summer.

The move has been very good for Van den Berg, who has already made 13 appearances for the London side and is now on the radar of Pep Guardiola at Manchester City.

And Van den Berg has now admitted that the presence of Ibrahima Konate and Virgil van Dijk meant he never stood of chance of a decisive first-team breakthrough under Arne Slot.

“I was very clear from the start that I wanted to play this season,” he said according to the Mirror, “At Liverpool you have two of the best centre-backs in the world at the moment. To me it was the right moment to leave, I’m at the age when I needed to play.

“I’ve done it for many years going out on loan. It was time for me to make the permanent move and establish myself as a Premier League player and that’s what I’m doing so far. I made the right decision [but] still a long way to go.”

Van Dijk and Konate are the best

His admission after training with them for years that both Van Dijk and Konate are two of the best centre-backs in the world is very telling.

Of course, he is not alone in these opinions. But forming that opinion from watching them and forming it from playing alongside them are two different things.

It also displays the level to which they really are performing at. Van den Berg has been a Premier League quality player so far this season, earning his place in Brentford’s starting XI.

Yet, as he admits himself, he stood no chance at breaking the partnership apart.

And it is a partnership that is central to the reason Liverpool are eight points clear at the top of the Premier League.

But, should Van Dijk leave this summer, letting Van den Berg go could start to look like a massive mistake... especially if Pep pounces.