Liverpool had planned to keep Sepp van den Berg after a strong pre-season, and the defender is still hopeful of a return despite joining Brentford in the summer.
Van den Berg returned from a loan spell at Mainz last summer and, with a new coach in the dugout, caught the eye during training and three friendly outings in pre-season.
But with the established order of Virgil van Dijk and Ibrahima Konate as first choice and Joe Gomez and Jarell Quansah as backups, the Dutchman forced his exit.
A deal worth up to £25 million was brokered with Brentford and he has become a key player under Thomas Frank, starting 20 times in the Premier League.
Van den Berg still harbours hopes of a move back to Liverpool in the future, though, and in an interview with Voetbal Primeur he even suggested he had a tinge of regret given the injuries to Konate and Gomez this season.
“I would be lying if I said that I didn’t look at that myself,” Van den Berg said of the opportunities he may have missed at Anfield.
“That’s football, you don’t know. I did well in pre-season and I really saw myself playing for the club, but not with the credit that I now have at Brentford.
“I am now a starter who always plays as long as he is fit. At Liverpool I would have been more of a player who had to fill gaps.
“I would rather be that starter. And who knows, if I do well here for two or three years, I will return to Liverpool and be a starter there too.”
Just like fellow Zwolle native Arne Slot, Van den Berg is typically Dutch in the way he speaks: open, honest and forthright, which will have extended to internal talks with the club over his role.
And in discussing his long-term ambitions the 23-year-old made clear his desire to play for Liverpool in the future – even if it may seem unlikely at this stage.
“I had a few conversations with Slot. But before pre-season started, I already indicated to the club that I wanted to leave and play minutes,” he recalled.
“I would be lying if I said that I did not dream of returning to Liverpool one day. That is still on my mind.
“But for now, it was better for my career to take a different path and play a lot. That is what I am doing now and that allows me to develop as well as possible.
“After pre-season, Liverpool indicated that I had done so well that they wanted me to stay. But I did not really see that happening myself.
“It was all my choice, I am happy that I now play in the Premier League every week.”
What did Arne Slot say?
Liverpool’s decision to sell both Van den berg and Fabio Carvalho to Brentford came into question given their status as high-potential youngsters around the squad.
But Slot gave an honest explanation when speaking ahead of the 2-0 win over the Bees in August.
“I think they brought in two really talented and good players. Then you could ask yourself the question, ‘why did they leave?’,” he said.
“The both of them played a lot of minutes [on loan] last season and I think the both of them wanted to continue that journey of playing time.
“I think they were able to play for us, but there is so much competition in the positions that they play that they wouldn’t play every minute of every single game.
“Then it’s a good deal. A really good deal for us and I think it’s a good deal for Brentford and it’s also a good deal for the players.”
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