While Liverpool have extended Luis Suarez’ contract to keep Juventus away from him and trying to Joe Allen from Swansea at the same time, they’ve also set a price for Daniel Agger, the man Manchester City are desperately trying to sign, getting rejected again and again.
So how much will it cost to get the Danish centre back to leave Anfield? After rejecting bids of £13 and £15 million, and hearing Manchester City are willing to go up as high as £18 for the 27 year-old, Liverpool came out and declared that they will only accept at £25 million offer for the player who has been with the club since 2006, winning the FA Cup in 2006 and the League Cup last season.
There were talks between Liverpool and Agger regarding a contract extension, as it seemed the player did take the next, required step last season into becoming the centre piece of the club’s defending, while Jamie Carragher’s form continued to decline, but since the City interest has been publicized Agger has requested to leave the club. He didn’t travel with the squad to their Europa League match, although Rodgers said that was because of fitness.
There are other options to make the deal works – Some say it will be hard for Liverpool to decline a £22 million offer, the same price City paid for Joleon Lescott in 2009. Another option will be including Adam Johnson, a winger of the type Liverpool have been needing for quite some time, in a deal that will see Agger leaving to City.
Manchester City have yet to make an acquisition this summer, although Roberto Mancini has announced that they will be making moves before the beginning of the season, with the charity shield match only four days away at the moment. City are apparently out of the running for Robin van Persie, who has changed his mind recently, opting to stay with Arsenal. Manchester United are still hopeful they might sign him, but the hints and clues suggest differently.
Agger has played only 119 matches in his half a decade of service with the Reds, mostly due to the constant injury problems that plague him. When healthy, he is one of the more versatile and talented centre backs in the Premier League, doing more than just good marking and tackling.