German side Mainz are planning a ‘transfer attack’ for Liverpool defender Sepp van den Berg after securing their Bundesliga status for another year.
That’s according to BILD, who say they have made the Liverpool youngster a ‘priority’ signing for the summer.
Van den Berg has spent this season on loan from Liverpool with Mainz and established himself as a first-team regular, managing 33 appearances in the Bundesliga and featuring in 93% of the available minutes.
He was particularly impressive in the end of season run-in, where Mainz only conceded eight goals in 12 games, the best record in the league.
That helped them stay in the Bundesliga and, with that now secured, Mainz are planning talks with Liverpool in ‘the next few days’ over the defender.
If he was to be signed permanently there is a belief that he would cost €10m, a figure which would make him the most expensive transfer in the history of the club.
At the moment it is not clear whether Mainz would be able or willing to pay that fee, particularly as they want to sign a central midfielder and a striker too.
They’ve already passed up an opportunity to make use of a first refusal as that expired at the end of the season, although they do have Van den Berg on their side as he would happily stay where he is.
It seems a negotiation is now needed with Liverpool, and those talks are planned to start in the coming days.
