Sepp van den Berg has admitted he spoke to Liverpool legend Xabi Alonso about a summer transfer to Bayer Leverkusen. But the young defender revealed he couldn’t wait for the deal to go through.
Van den Berg called time on his Liverpool career in August after he sealed a £25m move to Premier League rivals Brentford.
Van den Berg confirmed he spoke to the former Anfield favourite, who was part of the Reds team that famously won the Champions League in 2005, after the defending Bundesliga champions agreed to meet his price tag.
He told VoetbalPrimeur said: “I spoke to Xabi Alonso, as well as to people higher up at Leverkusen. Leverkusen could pay the transfer fee that Liverpool wanted, but someone had to leave before they could get me.
“I didn’t want to wait for that. Brentford were very interested in me from day one and very positive about me.
“The overall picture has to be right, of course, but in recent years I have learned that it is very important that the club and coach really want me. Leverkusen, with Xabi Alonso, (Jeremie) Frimpong, Champions League football and trying to become champions of Germany again would have been nice too.
“But I could have gotten the perfect picture at Brentford, while I was still in the waiting room at Leverkusen. So then I chose this with full dedication.”
