Brentford hope to beat Leverkusen to Liverpool’s Van den Berg

Brentford hope to see off late interest from Bayern Leverkusen to sign Sepp van den Berg, who would become the second player to sign from Liverpool this month.
Liverpool want more than £20million for the Netherlands Under-21 centre back, who would join Fabio Carvalho in west London. Van den Berg, 22, spent last season on loan at Mainz, starting 31 of 34 league games, after previous loan spells at Preston North End and Schalke.
He has not played for Liverpool since appearing in an FA Cup tie in February 2020, having joined for £4.5million from PEC Zwolle, the Eredivisie club, in 2019. He has two years left on his contract.
Brentford believe they can beat Leverkusen in the race, having signed Carvalho, an attacking midfielder, for about £27.5million from Liverpool last week.
This summer Brentford have spent a club-record £30million on Igor Thiago, the forward from Club Bruges, who was injured in pre-season and will be out until the turn of the year. Ivan Toney, the forward, is expected to leave for about £50million, while David Raya, the goalkeeper, was sold to Arsenal for £27million.
Wolverhampton Wanderers have submitted a loan offer for the Arsenal second-choice goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale.
The 26-year-old Englishman wants to leave Arsenal to play regular football and has had interest from Southampton and Ajax, whose loan bid was rejected last week. But Arsenal would prefer a guaranteed sale to recoup some of the net £490million they have spent on players in the past five years.
They paid an initial £24million, rising to £30million, for Ramsdale from Sheffield United in 2021. He has a contract until 2026, with the option of a further season.
Arsenal have lined up possible replacements, including Joan García, the 23-year-old Espanyol goalkeeper who has played for Spain at youth level.
José Sá, 31, Wolves’ first-choice goalkeeper, is under contract at Molineux until 2027 and received interest from Saudi Arabia last year. Wolves have also been linked with Christos Mandas, the Greece goalkeeper who plays for Lazio. Southampton have also been linked with Mandas, with Gavin Bazunu sidelined until next year with an achilles issue.
West Ham United are set to sign Mohamadou Kanté, the 18-year-old midfielder, who will return on loan to Paris FC for the season. Kanté has played for the Paris club’s under-19 and reserve sides but not the first team, who are in the second tier of French football.
Southampton have signed Mateus Fernandes, a 20-year-old midfielder, from Sporting Lisbon for £12.8million. He was on loan at Estoril last season, making 28 appearances and helping the club reach their first cup final in 80 years. They lost to Braga on penalties in the League Cup in January.