Sepp van den Berg has made just four appearances for Liverpool since joining the club from PEC Zwolle for an initial £1.3m in June 2019.

Well, sort of. The last of those came in a 1-0 victory over Shrewsbury Town in an FA Cup replay in February 2020. Yet, it was as part of an academy side managed by Neil Critchley, in the absence of Jurgen Klopp’s first team.

Also playing the 5-0 League Cup quarter-final defeat under Critchley to Aston Villa in December 2019, only two of Van den Berg's Liverpool appearances have actually been for the first team under Klopp.

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Handed his debut as a last-minute substitute against MK Dons, he made his only start for the German in the 5-5 draw with Arsenal in October 2019. Then only 17, as Klopp prepares to take charge of his final match in charge of the Reds this weekend, that solitary start for Van den Berg came a whopping 1,662 days ago.

While he has also been an unused substitute under Klopp on six occasions, including the first four matches of the 2022/23 season with the most recent being the 9-0 thrashing of AFC Bournemouth, he has spent the majority of the past three and a half years out on loan. For some, the 22-year-old will be something of a forgotten man.

In truth, for much of that time it has been hard to see a long-term Liverpool future for the Dutchman. He was very raw and shaky when representing the Reds first team in 2019/20, and hardly stood out at Under-23s level before departing on loan.

And while the reviews were rave from his 18 months on loan at Preston North End, where he was often utilised as a right wing-back rather than in his favoured centre-back role, it was perhaps taken with a pinch of salt from onlookers given the Lilywhites’ mid-table Championship status.

After all, it was telling that as Klopp lost Virgil van Dijk Joel Matip, and Joe Gomez to season-ending injuries in 2020/21, not once did he turn to the Van den Berg to fill the void. Instead, Nat Phillips, Rhys Williams and Billy Koumetio were all called upon, while Ozan Kabak was signed on loan and Ben Davies was brought in from Preston with Ven den Berg moving the opposite way in January 2021.

A full campaign in the Championship followed before Van den Berg signed for Schalke on loan in August 2022. Yet a serious ankle injury limited him to just nine appearances as the German outfit suffered relegation from the Bundesliga.

Returning to the German top-flight on loan with Mainz 05 in July 2023, four years on from first joining Liverpool, and his Reds career had hardly turned out as planned. His fourth temporary move away, a future permanent exit seemed likely.

Yet this season Van den Berg has re-written such a script. Making 34 appearances for a struggling Mainz side, and missing only one game because of suspension, he has still shone to help keep them out of the Bundesliga relegation zone heading into the final game of the season.

Scoring in a 1-1 draw away at Borussia Dortmund back in December as Klopp's two former clubs clashed, he also scored a valuable winner over FC Augsburg back in February.

Meanwhile, Van den Berg has been integral to Mainz putting together an eight-game unbeaten run off the back of a 8-1 thrashing away at Bayern Munich, most memorably winning 3-0 at home to Borussia Dortmund last time out.

Despite Mainz’s struggling status, the Dutchman has still been one of the standout defenders across Europe this season. He was credited as even charting alongside some of the best central defenders in the continent’s top five leagues.

Figures collated by Comparisonator showed that Van den Berg was only bettered by William Saliba (Arsenal), Nico Schotterbeck (Borussia Dortmund), Kim Min-Jae (Bayern Munich) and Van Dijk so far this season. The comparison website for player performance used its AI index to find the best centre-backs via their averages, while he was also rated as the best Under-23 centre-back in Europe's top five leagues by WhoScored.com.

Van den Berg has also clocked a top speed of 34.78kmh with Mainz this season - faster than any other Liverpool centre-back. Such pace is perhaps a surprise to those who first saw him turn out for the Reds five years ago, but is certainly a useful attribute to have in his parent club’s traditional high-line and perhaps an example of what club scouts initially saw in him all those years ago.

In truth, it is only since Klopp announced his decision to step down as Liverpool manager, has the notion of Van den Berg forcing his way into the Reds first team grown.

After all, with Matip confirmed to be leaving at the end of his contract, they will likely be in the market for a new centre-back. The necessity for such a player will only grow in the near-future too, with Van Dijk set to turn 33 in July and currently out of contract next summer.

With Arne Slot set to succeed Klopp, it will certainly be interesting to see how the young defender fares under his compatriot in pre-season. Yet Van den Berg is aware that first team opportunities back at Anfield are far from guaranteed.

In January, he told ESPN that he was eyeing up another potential move abroad, while in February he admitted to Voetbal Nieuws that he would look to leave the Reds if they couldn’t offer him game-time.

“I have my sights set more on abroad,” he said when asked about previous interest from Ajax. “Certainly England or Germany. If I now go looking outside, I might also want to go to Italy or Spain.

“I have been active abroad from an early age and, never say never, but I am focusing on abroad this summer.”

"If I go back to Liverpool, they might want me to stay. If I see that I won't get much game time, then I might choose to leave. It's really important to me that I play," Van den Berg told Voetbal Nieuws.

"In previous years, I didn't feel like I would be starting next to Virgil. I don't know yet what my chances will be like next summer. I think I'm doing well. I can handle playing at Liverpool. I can compete. But being a starter is different. Virgil and (Ibrahima) Konate are not easy to beat. I know it will be hard."

Of course, this season Jarell Quansah has proven it is not impossible to break into Liverpool’s senior centre-back ranks. And Van den Berg does boast an additional advantage when it comes to catching Slot’s eye beyond a shared nationality.

The soon-to-be Reds head coach finished his playing career at PEC Zwolle, before starting his coaching career in their youth academy in 2013.

Van den Berg would have been in the club’s youth ranks at the time, having joined them in 2012, but would have been just 12 years old at the time. Whether Slot was aware of his talents at such a young age would come down to how much he impressed at PEC Zwolle as a schoolboy.

Regardless, they boast shared contacts and a familiar past that could benefit the defender should he look to forge a future at Liverpool, with Slot boss well placed to do his homework and get references on the defender as a result.

Historically, players have found it difficult to forge a long-term career at Anfield after departing on loan. But that has started to change in recent years under Klopp.

Harvey Elliott is the most obvious example after a year on loan with Blackburn Rovers in 2020/21, while Quansah and Conor Bradley were in League One with Bristol Rovers and Bolton Wanderers respectively last year. Though a season away is very different to three and a half years.

While unprecedented at Anfield, it is not impossible. And Premier League rivals Arsenal perhaps boast the perfect example and inspiration in Saliba - a player Van den Berg has statistically rivalled this season.

The Gunners signed the Frenchman in a £27m deal from Saint-Etienne in July 2019, only for him to spend the 2019/20 campaign on loan with the then Ligue 1 club. Temporary moves to Nice and Marseille then followed in January 2021 and July 2021, with Saliba yet to play for Arsenal at that point.

But after 91 appearances during two and a half years out on loan, a Gunners debut finally followed on the opening day of the 2022/23 season away at Crystal Palace - three years on from first joining the North London club. The 23-year-old has since emerged as one of the best centre-backs in Europe over the past two seasons.

Van den Berg has admittedly had to be even more patient than the France international, and has a long way to go to emulate Saliba - whether his future lies at Liverpool or elsewhere. But with the Netherlands Under-21 international having made a name for himself in Germany this season, he will be looking to push on.

Mainz would love to keep him, of course, though reports in Germany suggest they have been told they stand no chance if they don’t remain in the Bundesliga. However, despite suggestions of a ‘pre-negotiated’ deal and ‘right of first refusal’ with Liverpool, Bild at this point concedes he is still more likely to return to Merseyside.

If so, a new manager and a fresh start awaits. And if Saliba can go from ‘forgotten man’ out on loan year after year to Premier League defender, Liverpool will hope why not Van den Berg.