Former player of “Liverpool”. I’ve had dark days…and come back from training crying

The former Liverpool player rejected the coach’s request Arnie Slott Staying at Liverpool after going through ‘dark days’ during his time on Merseyside.

Current Brentford and former Reds defender Sepp van den Berg is set to return to Anfield today, Sunday, to face his former club at the end of the 2025/26 season.

Liverpool signed Van Den Berg from Dutch club BEC Zwolle in 2019 and he made his debut in the same year against MK Dons in the FA Cup. But his spell with the Reds turned into a difficult experience after he was relegated to the reserve team after just four cup appearances and the player entered a phase of feeling neglected, living alone in unfamiliar surroundings.

The player said that he was only 17 years old at the time and felt isolated and his psychological condition deteriorated to such an extent that he began to hesitate to participate in training. He also admitted that he sometimes cries when he returns home.

Van den Berg gradually regained his confidence through a series of loan spells that included Preston North End, Schalke and Mainz, spells during which he faced various difficulties such as injuries and relegation, before he was given a new opportunity at Anfield in the summer of 2024 after the appointment of Arne Sloat as the team’s manager.

Notably, Slott hails from the same city as Van Den Berg, and his first coaching job was with BEC Zwolle’s under-13 team, where the defender played under his watch.

Van Den Berg said in a statement of the British Liverpool Echo network. “It was a bit embarrassing. It was funny because he’s from the same town and he coached me when I was a kid and now he’s the manager at Liverpool. He used to tell me. “How was your vacation?” Were you getting ready? Are you ready?”

He added: “I said yes, of course, but inside I was thinking, yes, I’m ready, but I hope I don’t go back to the preparatory period at all, because I wanted to leave.”

The centre-back has signed a five-year contract with Brentford in August 2024 in a deal worth up to £25m.

The player continued. “Those were really dark days. As a 17-year-old coming from another country, you are not a priority. I would sometimes come home crying and then not talk to anyone. Do we call this depression?’

“I think this is a bit of a harsh word, but I didn’t feel good. I was not in the state of mind I should have been in. I had no confidence and it affected me a lot as a footballer. I constantly doubted myself, like I wasn’t good enough. I didn’t want to go to training, and it’s not like you’re in my nature.”

“I learned a lot from this experience. It made me who I am today. My injury at Schalke also made me stronger. You learn a lot because you go into a very dark space and it feels like your whole world is dying in front of you because football is your world. Fortunately, I survived it.