Klopp waxes lyrical over 17-year-old starlet; hints at first-team chances

Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp has revealed that new signing Sepp Van Den Berg will have to wait to make his debut, but heaped praise upon the teenager.

Bayern were apparently desperate to get the player to Bavaria, but instead Van Den Berg penned a long-term contract at Anfield worth an initial £1.3million.

The Times report that the 17-year-old defender received ‘a series of increasingly frantic telephone calls to the player’s representatives’ as Van Der Berg was been looked at by Liverpool’s medical team.

Paperwork for the former PEC Zwolle man is apparently still being processed by FIFA, meaning he is only allowed to train and not play until clearance arrives.

Despite the fact Klopp already has Virgil van Dijk, Joe Gomez, Joel Matip and Dejan Lovren at his disposal, he has not ruled out first team involvement for the Netherlands U19 star next season.

“It depends. I open the door but the boys have to go through still,” Klopp said.

“He is a wonderful player as well, but because of FIFA rules he is not available in the moment, but we have other good players.

“He thought his future should be here and I thought the same, so now he is here and now let’s work together.

“He is 17 years old and when you see him you forget that constantly, but he is 17 and so there is a lot to learn.

“The good thing is he has the most time to do so, so everything will be fine.”

Get the latest personalised Reds products on our new TEAMtalk Liverpool shop!