Daniel Agger

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Daniel Agger

Agger, playing for Liverpool against Manchester City
Personal information
Full name Daniel Munthe Agger
Date of birth 12 December 1984 (1984-12-12) (age 23)
Place of birth    Hvidovre, Denmark
Height 1.89 m (6 ft 2+1⁄2 in)
Playing position Centre back
Club information
Current club Liverpool
Number 5
Youth clubs
19??–1996
1996–2004		 Rosenhøj BK
Brøndby IF
Senior clubs1
Years Club App (Gls)*
2004–2006
2006–		 Brøndby IF
Liverpool		 34 (5)
53 (4)   
National team2
2003–2004
2004–2006
2005–		 Denmark U20
Denmark U21
Denmark		 09 (1)
10 (3)
18 (2)

1 Senior club appearances and goals
counted for the domestic league only and
correct as of 18:03, 20 September 2007 (UTC).
2 National team caps and goals correct
as of 12 September 2007.
* Appearances (Goals)

Daniel Munthe Agger (born 12 December 1984 in Hvidovre) 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 18 times and scored two goals for the Danish national team. Known for his combative presence, solid positioning and powerful left-foot long-range strikes, he is regarded as one of the best young center backs in the world.

Contents

[edit] Club career

[edit] Brøndby IF

Daniel Agger joined Brøndby IF from childhood club Rosenhøj BK at 12 years of age,[1] to play for 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.

[edit] 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 £5.8m 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[2], who cost approximately £6.5m from the Russian club, Zenit St. Petersburg[3]).

His first half season at Liverpool was no success, as injuries limited 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 a stinging curler from 35 yards out.[4] Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez commented he was not surprised and that Agger has frequently scored such goals in training.[5] The goal was named Goal of the Month for August by the BBC's Match of the Day,[6] and later Liverpool's Premiership Goal of the Season.[7] On 4 October 2006 he was given PFA's fan award for impressive and solid displays in September.[8]

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.[9] 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.[9] His highly impressive performance in that important match cemented an excellent debut season, in which his clear talent had impressed Liverpool fans, leading to some comparing him to club legend Alan Hansen. He went on to participate in the 2007 Champions League final which Liverpool lost 2–1 to A.C. Milan.

Agger started the 2007 preseason 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 2nd metatarsal has ruled him out of action for a few more weeks. After being examined by several specialist it was reported on Liverpool F.C.'s official website [4] that Agger will miss the remainder of the season to undergo surgery on his foot. He is expected to return to full training in the pre-season.

[edit] 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.[10]

In 2007, Agger bought two restaurants on Lark Lane, Liverpool. [11]

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' or 'remember you are human') 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.[12]

[edit] Statistics

[edit] Club performance

Up to date, as of February 9, 2008.
Club Season Superliga Danish Clupper cup - Europe Others Total
App Goals App Goals App Goals App Goals App Goals App Goals
Brøndby IF 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 Premiership FA Cup League Cup Europe Others Total
App Goals App Goals App Goals App Goals App Goals App Goals
Liverpool F.C. 2005–06 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 0
2006–07 27 2 1 0 2 1 11 1 1 0 42 4
2007–08 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 0
Club total 36 2 1 0 2 1 11 1 1 0 51 4
Career total 65 7 6 0 2 1 17 1 5 0 95 9

[edit] International goals

Scores and results list Denmark's goal tally first.
# Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition
1 2005-09-07 Copenhagen, Denmark Flag of Georgia (country) Georgia 3–1 6–1 2006 World Cup qualification
2 2007-06-02 Copenhagen, Denmark Flag of Sweden Sweden 1–3 0–3¹ UEFA EURO 2008 qualification

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

[edit] Honours

Brøndby
Liverpool

[edit] References

  1. ^ (Danish) Christian Bové, Agger forgyldes og forgylder, TV 2 (Denmark), January 12, 2006
  2. ^ Chris Bascombe, Anfield bound Agger jets in, Liverpool Echo, January 11, 2006
  3. ^ (Danish) Jens Gjesse Hansen, Daniel Agger skifter til Liverpool, Danmarks Radio, January 11, 2006
  4. ^ Daniel Agger goal on YouTube
  5. ^ Steve Hunter, Rafa full of praise for Agger, LiverpoolFC.tv, August 26, 2006
  6. ^ Goal of the month: August, BBC Sport, 11 September 2006
  7. ^ Agger Scoops LFC Goal Of The Season, liverpoolFC.tv, 15 June 2007
  8. ^ Dave Smith, PFA fans' player of the month, GiveMeFootball.com, October 4, 2006
  9. ^ a b Alan Smith, Agger shows bottle to leave Drogba thirsty, The Telegraph, May 2, 2007
  10. ^ [1]
  11. ^ icLiverpool - Daniel Agger buys two Lark Lane nightspots
  12. ^ Daniel Agger er vores faste 12 mand, September 6, 2007

[edit] External links

v • d • e
Liverpool F.C. – current squad

3 Finnan • 4 Hyypia • 5 Agger • 6 Riise • 8 Gerrard • 9 Torres • 10 Voronin • 11 Benayoun • 12 F. Aurélio • 14 Alonso • 15 Crouch • 16 Pennant • 17 Arbeloa • 18 Kuyt • 19 Babel • 20 Mascherano • 21 Lucas • 23 Carragher • 25 Reina • 26 Carson • 30 Itandje • 33 Leto • 34 Spearing • 35 Putterill • 36 Flynn • 37 Škrtel • 38 Lindfield • 39 Darby • 40 Martin • 42 El Zhar • 44 Threlfall • 45 San José • 46 Hobbs • 47 Plessis • 48 Insúa • –– Degen • Manager: Benítez


Persondata
NAME Agger, Daniel Munthe
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Agger, Daniel
SHORT DESCRIPTION footballer
DATE OF BIRTH 1984-12-12
PLACE OF BIRTH Hvidovre, Denmark
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH