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Daniel Agger

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Daniel Agger
Personal information
Full name Daniel Munthe Agger
Height 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)[1]
Position(s) Centre back
Team information
Current team
 Liverpool
Number 5
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 1 April 2009

Daniel Munthe Agger (born 12 December 1984) is a Danish professional footballer who currently plays as a central defender for English club Liverpool. He started his senior career at Danish club Brøndby IF in July 2004, with whom he won the 2005 Danish Superliga championship. Since his debut in June 2005, he has been capped 22 times and scored three goals for the Danish national team.

Club career

Brøndby IF

Born in Hvidovre, Daniel Agger began his youth career at Rosenhøj BK. At 12 years old he joined the youth team of Danish Superliga club Brøndby IF.

In July 2004 he was moved from the youth squad to the first team, following the departure of Swedish international defender Andreas Jakobsson. Daniel Agger quickly established himself not only as a first team regular, but as one of the bearing elements of the team that won the Danish Superliga 2004-05 championship. Despite his young age, he played with great authority and class under the guidance of Brøndby team captain Per Nielsen, and after the first half of the season Agger was named 2004 "talent of the year" by Spillerforeningen (the Danish equivalent of the English PFA).

After the successful Superliga 2004–05 season, Agger was called up to the senior Danish national football team for the 1–0 friendly win against Finland on 2 June 2005, playing the full match. Agger would see the next national team match from the bench before playing the full 4–1 friendly win on 17 August 2005 over England alongside Per Nielsen, where he caused problems for the English forwards, most notably Wayne Rooney. He played the full length in the next two national team matches, before an injury sustained in the Danish Superliga 2005-06 season in September forced him out for the remainder of the year 2005. Only 20 years of age, Daniel Agger was awarded the Danish "talent of the year" of all sports on 6 December 2005.

Liverpool F.C.

Agger was long linked to a transfer to a bigger club, and in the January 2006 transfer window, Agger was looking to join English Premier League team Liverpool, the defending UEFA Champions League champions.[2] Daniel Agger did not travel with his Brøndby teammates for their winter training camp in January and on 12 January 2006 he signed a 4½ year contract with Liverpool. The £5.8 million transfer deal made him the most expensive footballer sold by a Danish club to a foreign club,[3] as well as the most expensive defender Liverpool had ever bought, at the time. (Liverpool's most expensive defender is now Martin Škrtel, who cost approximately £6.5 million from the Russian club, Zenit St. Petersburg).

His first half season at Liverpool saw injuries limit him to four first-team appearances during spring 2006. He played ten games and scored three goals for the Danish under-21 national team, for which he was selected to play in the 2006 European Under-21 Championship tournament in May 2006.

At the start of the 2006–07 season, Agger played the full game as Liverpool won the 2006 FA Community Shield. Still adapting to the English game, he established himself in Liverpool's first team squad, competing with Liverpool vice-captain Jamie Carragher and former Finnish team captain Sami Hyypiä for the two starting places in the central defence. Agger scored his first goal for Liverpool on 26 August 2006 in a 2–1 win against West Ham United. Agger was allowed to run unchallenged toward the Kop-end goal and scored from 35 yards (32 m) out. Liverpool manager Rafael Benítez commented he was not surprised and that Agger has frequently scored such goals in training.[4] The goal was named Goal of the Month for August by the BBC's Match of the Day,[5] and later Liverpool's Premiership Goal of the Season.[6] On 4 October 2006 he was given PFA's fan award for impressive and solid displays in September.[1]

Agger scored his second goal for the club in a Football League Cup away game against Birmingham City with a volley from close range in the seven minutes of first-half stoppage time. His third was against Arsenal scoring a header in a 4–1 victory played on 31 March 2007. In the first semi-final of the 2006–07 Champions League, Agger received some criticism as Liverpool lost to Chelsea 1–0, after Chelsea striker Didier Drogba managed to dribble past him before making the assist to win the game.[7] In the second leg of the semi-finals, Agger answered his critics by scoring another curler from a smartly-taken Steven Gerrard free-kick from just outside the penalty area, and helping Liverpool keep a clean sheet as the team beat Chelsea 1–0 on 1 May 2007.[7] He went on to participate in the 2007 Champions League final which Liverpool lost 2–1 to A.C. Milan.

Agger started the 2007 pre-season in scoring fashion, scoring two goals in four games, including a left footed-finish against Hong Kong outfit South China AA. However, he suffered a metatarsal injury in September, again losing his place to Hyypiä. In January 2008, Agger began training and was attempting to regain match fitness, however a recurrence in his second metatarsal ruled him out of action for a few more weeks. After being examined by several specialists it was reported on Liverpool F.C.'s official website that Agger would miss the remainder of the season to undergo surgery on his foot.

Agger returned to full training in the pre-season at Melwood and on 12 July 2008 Agger made his playing return with as a substitute in Liverpool's friendly win over neighbours Tranmere Rovers.[8] Agger stated after the match: "I am almost starting my career at Liverpool all over again".[9] Agger was in the starting line up in Liverpool's first game of the season against Standard Liege in the champions league qualifiers. The game ended 0–0. Agger found himself sidelined the rest of August and much of September. Furthermore he was excluded from the squad against Man united. This led to rumours that Agger and Benítez were not happy with each other and that there had been a verbal fight amongst the two. However, Benítez insisted that there was no problem between Agger and himself.[10]

After a month without playing Agger returned to the starting line up against Crewe Alexandra F.C. in the Carling Cup. Agger played the full 90 minutes and marked his return by scoring the first goal from a free kick outside the box. Liverpool won the game 2–1.[11]

Due to an injury for Škrtel; Agger returned to the starting line up against Wigan for his first Premier League match of the season. Agger was however strongly involved in Wigan's first goal. Agger lost the ball to Zaki after a pass from Reina which led to Liverpool falling behind. Agger redeemed himself by setting up Dirk Kuyt for the equaliser. Liverpool eventually won the match 3–2.[12]

Personal life

Agger revealed himself to be a Volbeat fan as he selected their song The Garden's Tale as his choice for the "LFC Athens 2007 Playlist" in the build up of Liverpool's 2007 UEFA Champions League Final appearance.[13]

In 2007, Agger bought two restaurants on Lark Lane, Liverpool.[14]

Agger is known for his numerous tattoos. Among others, he has a Viking on his upper right arm with the quote "Memento mori" (which means 'remember you will die') written underneath it, an intricate band around his left elbow as well as some tribal symbols, Chinese characters and the quote "mors certa hora incerta" (which means 'death is certain, but the hour is uncertain') on his back. He also has the names of his brother and sister on the left of his chest. Agger himself is also a tattoo artist. Back in his homeland Agger owns a pub with his uncle.[15]

Agger's younger cousin Nicolaj Agger is also a footballer.

Statistics

Club performance

Up to date, as of 11 April 2009.
Club Season Denmark Superliga Danish Cup - Europe Others Total
App Goals App Goals App Goals App Goals App Goals App Goals
Brøndby IF

(SuperLiga)

2004–05 26 5 5 0 - - 1 0 4 0 36 5
2005–06 8 0 0 0 - - 5 0 0 0 13 0
Club total 34 5 5 0 - - 6 0 4 0 49 5
Club Season England Premiership FA Cup League Cup Europe Others Total
App Goals App Goals App Goals App Goals App Goals App Goals
Liverpool

(Premier League)

2005–06 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 0
2006–07 27 2 1 0 2 1 12 1 1 0 43 4
2007–08 5 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 6 0
2008–09 13 1 1 0 2 1 5 0 0 0 18 2
Club total 49 3 2 0 4 2 18 1 1 0 73 6
Career total 82 8 7 0 4 2 24 1 5 0 122 11

International goals

Scores and results list Denmark's goal tally first.
# Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition
1 2005-09-07 Parken Stadium, Copenhagen  Georgia 3–1 6–1 2006 World Cup qualification
2 2007-06-02 Parken Stadium, Copenhagen  Sweden 1–3 0–3¹ UEFA EURO 2008 qualification
3 2008-10-11 Parken Stadium, Copenhagen  Malta 2–0 3–0 2010 World Cup qualification

¹ Match abandoned, Sweden awarded 0–3 victory by UEFA, but Daniel Agger's goal still counts in statistics.

Honours

Brøndby
Liverpool

References

  1. ^ a b c "agger official profile". Liverpool F.C. Retrieved 2008-12-19.
  2. ^ Bascombe, Chris. Anfield bound Agger jets in. Liverpool Echo (2006-01-11). Retrieved on 2008-12-19.
  3. ^ Template:Da icon Jens Gjesse Hansen, Daniel Agger skifter til Liverpool. Danmarks Radio (2006-01-11). Retrieved on 2008-12-19.
  4. ^ Hunter, Steve (2006-08-26). Rafa full of praise for Agger. Liverpool F.C.. Retrieved on 2008-12-19.
  5. ^ Goal of the month: August. BBC Sport (2006-09-11). Retrieved on 2008-12-19.
  6. ^ Hunter, Steve (2007-06-15). Agger Scoops LFC Goal Of The Season. Liverpool F.C.. Retrieved 2008-12-19.
  7. ^ a b Smith, Alan (2007-05-23). Agger shows bottle to leave Drogba thirsty. The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 2008-12-19
  8. ^ Rice, Jimmy (2008-07-03). "Rafa: Agger loss cost us title shot". Liverpool F.C. Retrieved 2008-12-19.
  9. ^ Rice, Jimmy (2008-07-14). "Agger: It Feels Like A New Start". Liverpool F.C. Retrieved 2008-12-19.
  10. ^ "Benitez plans Agger offer". Sky Sports. 2008-09-23. Retrieved 2008-12-19.
  11. ^ Hunter, Andy (2008-09-24). "Pope's fallibility spares 'best ever' Benítez an Anfield inquisition". The Guardian. Retrieved 2008-12-19. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  12. ^ Burton, Chris (2008-10-18). "Kuyt inspires Reds revival". Sky Sports. Retrieved 2008-12-19.
  13. ^ Rogers, Paul (2007-05-21). "A-Kop-olis now: LFC.tv's Athens diary". Liverpool F.C. Retrieved 2008-12-19.
  14. ^ Traynor, Luke (2007-09-14). "Daniel Agger buys two Lark Lane nightspots". The Liverpool Echo. Retrieved 2008-12-09. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  15. ^ Template:Da iconDaniel Agger er vores faste 12 mand. Tatooworld (2007-09-06). Retrieved on 2008-12-19.


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