Liverpool defender Sepp van den Berg has outlined the reasons behind his loan move to Preston North End.
Following the signing of Ben Davies on transfer deadline day, the youngster moved to Deepdale until the end of the season as part of the deal.
The ECHO also understands that North End have first refusal on a second loan next term if certain appearance-based percentages are met between now and the end of the season.
Van den Berg made his Preston debut over the weekend, coming on as a substitute for Paul Huntington with 18 minutes remaining in a 2-1 loss against Rotherham United.
And speaking after the game, Van den Berg outlined how he hopes to rack up minutes on the pitch to help build up his own experience of playing at first team level.
“That’s the main reason why I went here, hopefully I can get a lot of playing time and get a really good experience and the Championship is a really good league as well and really hard," he told Lancs Live.
"It’s physical, it’s quick, from end to end, so it will be perfect for me if I get some minutes and get experience and develop myself so that’s the main target for me here.
“It’s the most important thing in my opinion to build a relationship with the whole team really and especially as a back four.
"I’ve only been here three days, this was my fourth (against Rotherham) so we have to build on it next week and hopefully in training and in the games I make a good relationship with everyone and hopefully we can play well.
“When I came in, everyone was nice to me, everyone helped me, so that immediately gave me a good feeling.
"Of course, this is different, it’s way harder the Championship itself but also the training I felt was really intense and really physical, so of course I have to adapt to it, but I really like it here and hopefully we can make a good second half of the season and I can play a lot of games."
