Sepp Van Den Berg Earns Maiden Senior Netherlands Call Up

Brentford centre back Sepp Van Den Berg has received his first call up to the Dutch national team after impressing for the Bees in recent weeks upon his return from injury. 

The 24-year-old joins up with the Netherlands squad as a replacement for Liverpool's Virgil Van Dijk, who pulled out of the squad due to injury. 

Van Den Berg's call up means the Bees defender will be coached by the legendary former FC Barcelona midfielder and manager Xavi, who took over as head coach of the Netherlands in August. 

Over the course of the upcoming camp, the Netherlands will take on Greece and Germany in the UEFA Nations League as they look to round off their group stage campaign in style and secure a place in March's quarter finals. 

Xavi's side currently sit top of the group with eight points from four games, winning two and drawing two so far. 

Whilst it is not certain that Van Den Berg will make his senior international debut over the upcoming week, the call up alone is a fantastic achievement for the centre back given he has only very recently returned to full fitness, making his first appearance of the season less than a month ago in Brentford's 2-1 defeat to Liverpool. 

Van Den Berg prior to the recent summer had been largely injury free in his time at the club, having joined Brentford from Liverpool in August 2024. In his first season with the Bees, Van Den Berg played 35 times in all competitions, and a further 38 in his second season -  a common figure at the heart of the West Londoners' defence. 

However, a groin injury picked up at the start of pre-season saw the Dutchman ruled out for months, missing nearly all of Brentford's pre-season along with the first two months of the Premier League season. 

Upon his return, questions were raised as to whether or not Van Den Berg would be a starter under Andrews this season. Kristoffer Ajer had began the campaign in fantastic fashion, young summer signing Jannik Schuster had impressed and club captain Nathan Collins was only a week or so behind Van Den Berg in his injury recovery, having been sidelined since September's 1-1 draw to Sunderland. 

As chance would have it, a knock picked up by Jannik Schuster allowed Van Den Berg an opportunity to be thrown straight back in from the start against his former club Liverpool and since then he has not looked back. 

Despite the array of options available to head coach Keith Andrews at centre back, the Irishman has started Van Den Berg in every Premier League game since his return against Liverpool, a show of faith rewarded recently as Van Den Berg delivered a superb performance in the 2-0 win over Nottingham Forest alongside Ajer at centre back. 

Evidently, Van Den Berg's performances for Brentford have been enough to catch the eye of Xavi. With it taking just four appearances this season to win his way into the Spaniard's squad, it is likely that Van Den Berg has been a player rated by Xavi ever since his appointment in August, and that injury only delayed international recognition for arguably one of Brentford's most underrated players. 

Should Van Den Berg feature for the Netherlands, he will become just the second Brentford player to play for the senior Dutch national team after Mark Flekken, with whom he played with at Brentford for one season prior to the goalkeeper's move to Bayer Leverkusen.

The journey to the senior national team will no doubt be one to fill Van Den Berg with great pride, having featured for the Netherlands many times at youth level in the past, playing 10 times for the Under 19 side and eight times for the Under 21s. 

Van Den Berg is one of 21 first team players at Brentford heading out on international duty over the international break, with fellow centre backs Kristoffer Ajer, Nathan Collins, Jannik Schuster, Kim Ji-Soo and Benjamin Fredrick all selected for their various countries.