Liverpool defender Daniel Agger has admitted that he was tempted to join Barcelona following the continual speculation linking the Danish star with a move away from Anfield.
Agger has however said he wants to honour his Liverpool contract for as long as the club want him there.
“I think you are always tempted when stuff like that happens,” Agger told the Times. “You would not be human not to be, but I keep to my principles.
“If I have a contract here for two or three years and the club want me to stay, then I stay with them because, when I signed that deal, that’s what I told them – that I’d be here for four years. I can’t just turn around and say I don’t want to be here anymore.
“It might have been different if the club had said it was in the best interests of both of us to go our different ways. In that case Barcelona would have been the best place to go, without a doubt, but the club came to me and told me they wanted me here.
“I’m not saying I wasn’t tempted, because anyone would be in that situation, but for the club to say that to me was enough. I am happy here and my family is happy here also and that’s a good combination.”
Agger has recently made his way back into the Liverpool side as he was forced to sit on the bench by Brendan Rodgers as he opted to play with Sakho, Skrtel and Toure in a three man defence. But against Fulham, Rodgers reverted to playing with two central defenders and he picked Agger and Skrtel. Following Sakho’s great performance for France in midweek, it will be interesting to see if Rodgers continues with Agger ahead of Sakho.
It seems that Agger is no longer a guaranteed starter for the Reds as he was in seasons gone by, despite him now being the clubs vice-captain, and he now has some stiff competition. Coupled with his niggling injury problems, it could be an option to cash in on Agger and he be sold to Barcelona rather than waiting for his contract to end and we lose him for free.
There is no doubt that Agger is still a quality defender but we now have Sakho, Skrtel, Toure and the young Tiago Ilori to fill in and let’s not forget that Andre Wisdom and Martin Kelly are being groomed to ultimately play as central defenders. Thus it may make sense to cash in on Agger whilst he still has a decent transfer value and use the money to strengthen other departments.
