Hi all, 1st post. Danish fan here. From Denmark that is, although I do love a good danish. Not really a Liverpool or City fan sorry to say, just like watching and talking about football. Big Agger fan though, and I certainly wouldn´t mind him going to City to get some trophies to go with that awesome talent and those ridiculous hairdos and tattoos. I do support my local team SC Egedal ferociously though. We just got relegated to the Danish equivalent of Conference League, so you can tell I´m no stranger to the levels of success, you guys have been enjoying these past few years.
I read an interesting interview with Agger at sporten.dk today, that I´ll do my best to translate correctly – I´ll put in a few thoughts of my own at the end. It certainly seems like the move could still happen (despite the headline). Here goes:
Agger: Hope Liverpool still wants me
Daniel Agger can´t say much about the rumors of a transfer to City. He´d rather stay at Liverpool, but doesn´t know if they will sell him. Agger stresses that it´s Liverpools call, whether they want to sell him or not. He hopes they won´t, but it´s not a decision he can influence. Liverpool has the final word.
Q: With everything going on regarding City, have you even been asked by Liverpool, what your opinion/attitude is?
A: No I haven´t. This is how the club has decided to handle it, I can´t do anything about that, and it doesn´t bother me. I´m still under contract with Liverpool, so it´s up to the club, what it wants, I can´t get involved in that.
Q: If they don´t want to sell you, that must mean they want to keep you. Is there an extention of your contract waiting for you?
A: I haven´t heard anything from them, so I don´t know. I don´t know if they just want us to continue on the current contract, time will tell. I have two years remaining, so I´m keeping cool. If they approach me with anything new, I´ll take a look at it.
Q: What would you rather? Shag a dead horse or get stuffed by a leprechaun? (Sorry that was me, I really should have been a journo.)
A: I´d rather stay. But it´s not me, that has that decision at the moment, that’s the club and its owner.
Q: You´ve previously said, that you wouldn´t play for any other club in England. Have you reconsidered?
A: No I haven´t. But sometimes you can get put in a situation, where it´s just not your call. I hope I won´t be this time around, but it isn´t up to me. I have my principles and my opinions, and I´m not going to change them, just because 18 months (of his current contract) have passed. But sometimes things happen, that you can´t control, and then you have to adapt, and that’s how I feel at the moment.
Q: If you were to be sold against your will, could you see yourself playing for City?
A: Against my will? (Agger then uses a Danish phrase here – det er så meget sagt -, that I´m not sure how to translate. Basically he means that “against his will” is too strong a statement. The phrase means something like “I wouldn´t say that” or “That’s overstating it”)
I don´t want to be in a place, where I´m not wanted either, nobody does. So I hope they´ll want me to stay, that´s my first priority. But I haven´t heard anything from the club yet, so there´s no reason for me to be concerned about it right now.
Q: Do you know if there has been anything concrete from City? (If City has approached Liverpool)
A: Yes I know they have, but I don´t know what Liverpool thinks about it. They haven´t expressed anything about it to me yet.
Q: Were the rumors of interest from Barcelona true?
A: You´ll have to ask the club that, they´re the ones in charge of that. I don´t hear, what they´re negotiating about, and that´s fair enough. I accept the way the club handles it, because I don´t need to hear about it.
That´s it. It looks to me like he´s not ruling out a move at all. He knows City has approached Liverpool, but he won´t make a decision until the club accepts the offer and comes to him. And he´s not too bothered, until this happens. He wants to stay at Liverpool, but if they get a great offer and want him to take it, he´ll go without slamming the door. I wouldn´t be too concerned about him not having “passion enough” for City. He has plenty of passion for winning, and seems to take a lot of personal pride in always trying his best. He´s always been a great professional anyway, I´d expect that to continue.
A move to City would imo of course be a step up in his career. However I´m not sure he sees it that way. I think his biggest dream is to be captain of Liverpool one day (just a guess of course), since there´s no question that he loves Liverpool. Either way I don´t think he´s that motivated by money or trophies to be honest. He has repeatedly said football wasn´t his first career choice andhe could esily see himself doing something else. But once it turned out that he had a great talent for it, and his favorite club came knocking, then there was no question about his future. Also, in Denmark you are not allowed to refuse playing for Liverpool, because everybody loves them because of Jan Molby and that time in the 1980es, when the only games you could see on the telly was either Liverpool or f*cking Wolverhampton. And be honest, you´d be a Liverpool fan too, if that was your only options. And although I think 27 million is a ridiculous sum, you did pay 24 for Lescott, so I guess it would make some kind of sense on Planet Insane Money, which the entire world of professional football apparently have moved to.