Former Preston North End defender Sepp van den Berg is earning rave reviews in Germany.
Some loanees will always be welcome back at PNE.
Cameron Archer, Tom Cannon and Alvaro Fernandez spring to mind, maybe even David Beckham if he’s ever in town.
Sepp van den Berg is another, with the Dutchman a hugely popular figure from his time at North End.
Signed on loan from Liverpool in January 2021, Van den Berg initially seemed like a player thrown into the deal which saw Ben Davies move to Anfield.
Van den Berg ended up becoming a fan favourite at Deepdale, turning a six-month stay into an 18-month spell with North End.
Sadly, Van den Berg moved on in 2022 and endured a difficult season on loan at Schalke before heading to Mainz last summer.
Sepp van den Berg praised in Germany
Liverpool will be keeping close tabs on Van den Berg but the most likely scenario is that the Dutchman moves on permanently this summer.
We would love to see Van den Berg back at Deepdale, but North End would likely need promotion in order to make that happen.
Loan club Mainz do have first option to make Van den Berg’s move permanent, but find themselves in danger of slipping into Germany’s second tier.
Van den Berg scored the winner against Augsburg earlier this month and is trying to keep Mainz in the top flight.
Mainz have a new boss at the helm in Bo Henriksen and he has been impressed with Van den Berg.
“He is a leader and the boss in the middle. He’s getting better and better,” said Henriksen, as quoted by Get Football News Germany.
The 22-year-old is really kicking on, becoming the kind of defender PNE fans knew he could become.
It’s great to see Van den Berg impressing and we can only hope to see him in a North End shirt again one day – we may just have to wait quite a while as he goes from strength to strength in the Bundesliga.