Liverpool have incredible strength in depth throughout the squad, but are particularly well stocked in the centre of their defence.
The Reds first choice centre-backs last season, Joel Matip and Virgil van Dijk, helped Liverpool concede the fewest goals of any Premier League defence last season.
As back up in that position, Liverpool have got the highly experienced Dejan Lovren, and one of the most promising English defenders in the country in Joe Gomez available to them.
If that wasn't enough, youngster Ki-Jana Hoever has shown real potential in the youth side, even making his first team debut in the FA Cup against Wolves last season, becoming the club's youngest ever player in the competition.
Now, Jurgen Klopp's side have signed another promising young defender in Sepp van den Berg from PEC Swolle.
So, just how good can he become in the future?
We used Football Manager 2019 to find out.
Sepp van den Berg - Liverpool
Current ability: 97/200
Potential ability: -75 (150/200)
Positions: CB/CDM
Best attributes: Natural fitness (16), teamwork (14), tackling (13), marking (13) , work rate (13), balance (13), heading (12), stamina (12), jumping reach (12), bravery (12), composure (12), passing (11), vision (11).
His core defensive attributes are very decent for his age, with high ratings for tackling, marking, balance, heading, jumping, composure and bravery.
The 17-year-old also has decent technical ability, with promising passing, vision, technique and first touch attributes, which suggests that he could develop into a great ball-playing defender.
The Dutch youngster's potential ability is set at -75, this means he could reach a current ability of 150 out of 200. To put this into context, this rating suggests that he could become better than Joel Matip (148) and Joe Gomez (149) in the future, which indicates just how exciting a talent he is.
So, how good will he be in six years time?
We used the Football Manager editor to add in the £1.4m transfer of Sepp van den Berg to Liverpool in June 2019.
We then simulated six years into the future, July 2025, to see how much the Dutchman improved.
Sepp van den Berg in six years time at Liverpool
After simming the game for six years, we had a quick look at the Dutchman's career trajectory, as he was sent out on loan almost every season in order to further his development.
Two years on loan at West Ham, followed by further loan spells with Lokomotiv Moscow, Espanyol, Bayer Leverkusen and Real Sociedad, before becoming part of the Liverpool first team in the 2025/26 season.
This is how Sepp van den Berg's profile looked in 2025/26.
The loan spells had developed him into a very good defender, with high defensive, technical, physical and mental attributes.
Such is the level of his ability now, he actually started the first game of the 2025/26 season, alongside a 33-year-old Virgil van Dijk.
So, according to Football Manager 2019, it will take a while for him to develop and he might need some loan spells, but van den Berg will eventually prove himself and become part of the Reds first team.
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If this happens, he could prove to be a bargain in a few years time!
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