Liverpool defender Sepp van den Berg emerged as a loan option for Bournemouth

Liverpool defender Sepp van den Berg has emerged as a loan option for Bournemouth.

The 20-year old was previously on loan at Preston North End who are signing Manchester United left-back Alvaro Fernandez, 19, on loan.

Van Den Berg is Dutch centre-back who Liverpool acquired in 2019 from PEC Zwolle.

The defender was bought for £1.3m in that summer and has spent the last 18 months on loan at Preston.

He played 66 times for the Lancashire club over that extended loan spell, including 50 appearances for the Deepdale club last season.

Van Den Berg is contracted until 2024 at Liverpool but stiff competition in the centre of defence, with Virgil van Dijk, Ibrahima Konate, Joe Gomez and Joel Matip all ahead of him in the pecking order, means a loan move is likely to represent his best chance of playing regular first team football.

Bournemouth, who were promoted back to the Premier League last season under Scott Parker, have now emerged as the front runners to sign the player on loan.

Liverpool and Bournemouth enjoy a strong relationship, with there having been a number of players to have transferred between the two clubs.

Jordan Ibe, who joined the Cherries from Liverpool in 2016 while Nat Phillips, who played for Liverpool in the second half of the 2020-21 campaign after Liverpool's defence was ravaged by injury, spent last season on loan at Bournemouth.