Official: Van den Berg joins Mainz on loan
Dutch defender Sepp van den Berg was officially unveiled as a new FSV Mainz 05 player on Thursday evening.
A transfer rumored to be in the works earlier in the day did not take long to be completed. FSV Mainz 05 revealed that they had secured the services Liverpool defender Sepp van den Berg on a one-year-loan arrangement Thursday evening. A Mainz press release noted that "possibilities for a longer cooperation" were included in the deal. Details on how this may work out were not immediately disclosed.
Van den Berg revealed in his signing statement that he had been convinced to join the Rheinhessen after personal talks with FSV trainer Bo Svensson. Svensson himself and Mainz sporting director Martin Schmidt issued statements lauding the 21-year-old as a "major talent" and thanked him for committing to die Nullfünfter despite interest from several other parties.
"I had early talks with Mainz 05 and especially with Bo Svensson," van den Berg is quoted as saying on the club's website, "I really like the way he sees football and wants to play here. Before I came here, of course, I also spoke with Jürgen Klopp - he raved about Mainz and said that I will feel very comfortable here."
Van den Berg - who spent last season on loan at Schalke - should be the first of two players from Schalke's 2022/23 roster to sign on with Mainz in the coming days. RB Leipzig midfielder Tom Krauß, another Schalke loan returnee, is expected to be unveiled at the weekend at the latest.
Wir hätten noch ein wenig Nachtisch! 👨🍳
— 1. FSV Mainz 05 (@1FSVMainz05) July 13, 2023
Sepp van den Berg im Sach' emol! ⬇️https://t.co/uYSYJkTaFo