Agger off to Real Madrid?

The dust has settled in the Bernabéu after the mad transfer activity. Madrid is known for its bullfighting, but this seems to be transcending onto the football pitch as Real Madrid try to sign other clubs' players, with much distress to the ‘raging’ club.

We saw the rage and blood boil in Sir Alex Ferguson as Real Madrid tried to lure Manchester United’s Ronaldo. Real Madrid received some of their own medicine as the new bull in town, Manchester City lured their prize asset, Robinho from them.

Will ‘matador’ Rafael Benítez be swept away as Real Madrid come charging in for Daniel Agger?

Real Madrid seem very keen to buy the Danish and Liverpool centre back in the January transfer window.

"He [Agger] is a player we have been looking at for a long time and it is likely we will bid for him in January. He is a world-class player and without doubt he would fit into our plans," Real Madrid vice-president José Ángel Sánchez is quoted in The Times.

"We already had plans about buying Agger this summer, along with some other players, but the Robinho situation took so much attention and demanded so many resources from the club that we had to drop the plans about putting a bid in for Agger and other players that we had in mind.

"What we need is a defender and a striker, and, at the moment, Agger is on top of our list."

In an interview with Danish television Agger denied that he had clashed with Benitez over his performance in a nervous goalless draw in the first leg of the Champions League qualifying clash at Standard Liege. Liverpool won the second leg 1-0.

"Of course there are things that Benítez was not satisfied with after Liege, but it is a big lie to say we had an argument," Agger said.

"I certainly hope it is only football reasons why I am not playing. I'm happy at Liverpool I have no problem in this club. The manager has just said that the team is playing very well and that is why I am not playing.

"I want to stay here and fight for my place in the squad. I'm not satisfied with the fact that I'm not playing but I have to cope and accept it."

So why would Liverpool give in to selling such an asset?

Could Martin Škrtel be the reason? Škrtel became Liverpool's most expensive defender, with the fee surpassing the previous record for, guess who, Daniel Agger in January 2006. Škrtel was signed for £6.5 million, eclipsing the price of £5.8 million paid for Agger.

Martin Škrtel is known as a no-nonsense centre-back. Now if you look deeper into the word "no-nonsense", this means that the player is sure to receive many yellow cards and it’s only a matter of time before he gets his marching orders for a quick shower. I believe Škrtel makes untimely tackles in areas of the pitch where it would be better to 'jockey' the player or pass the player on to the covering defender.

Škrtel was a competent ice-hockey player back in his youth. Now I’m not saying that’s a sport he should have stuck to. He is a very decent Liverpool reserve defender and a starting line-up centre back outside the top top four, Manchester City and Portsmouth.

I probably wouldn’t have to be writing this piece if it weren’t for the, dare I say the words, metatarsal injury Agger suffered. Agger suffered a second metatarsal injury in January 2008 that ruled him out of the rest of the season and caused him to undergo surgery on his foot.

The only season that one can judge Agger’s performance was the 2006-07 season where he made 42 appearances for Liverpool, scoring 4 goals. In that season Liverpool won the FA Cup and where runners-up in the UEFA Champions League. In this, the 2008-09 season, Agger has played two games.

The first leg of the champions league qualifiers against Standard Liege, which ended 0-0. His second game was in the Carling Cup against Crewe where he scored from a freekick outside the box to win 2-1.

Agger has made a big impact at Liverpool! Are we forgetting his 'goal of the month' in August 2006 where he run unchallenged toward the Kop-end goal and scored from 35 yards against West Ham in a 2-1 win. This was named Liverpool’s Premiership goal of the season.

Agger won the PFA player of the month award in September 2006. The character of the man was shown after he received some criticism in the first leg UEFA Champions League semi-final versus Chelsea in a 1-0 defeat. He answered his critics with a goal in the home leg and a clean sheet. Liverpool advanced to the UEFA Champions League final on penalties.

Watch this space as Liverpool and Real Madrid do battle in the media ‘bull-ring’. In closing there is one name that pops into my mind, John Arne Riise. He was brilliant, don’t waste away another star.