After bringing in Pepe Reina on loan from the Reds – but failing to land Martin Skrtel – former Liverpool boss, and current Napoli manager, Rafa Benitez is said to be plotting a January loan move for Daniel Agger. This season the Dane, who has repeatedly snuffed rumors of his dissatisfaction at Anfield, has found himself on the peripherals of the team with Martin Skrtel enjoying a newfound renaissance and Brendan Rodgers preferring either Mamadou Sakho or Kolo Toure to his vice-captain. According to Sky Italia, there has been contact between the two clubs, but Benitez isn’t too confident of bringing the big center half in – the Anfield club doesn’t seem too eager to let him go quite yet.
Benitez signed Agger from Brondby in 2007 for £5.5mil and his stock has risen substantially since then; in 2012, Liverpool rejected a bid in the region of £18mil for the Danes services and turned down a similar one from Barcelona in 2013. Instead of forcing through a move to the Catalan giants – which, really, would you blame him? – the defender took up the vice-captain role vacated by Jamie Carragher and pledged allegiance to the cause. This, of course, was September and a substantial amount of time on the bench can change things.
Although we’ve heard nothing but praise and commitment out of the defender, a move to Italy and a reunion with an old manager could tempt Agger to push for a move – even if it’s only a loan – to secure more playing time. It’s doubtful the club will be too keen on sanctioning any move considering the amount of money they’ve rejected for him in the past, but in January anything can, and most likely will, happen. For now we’ll just have to wait and see…
