Daniel Agger, a tall defender who joined Liverpool from Bröndby in 2006, has developed into one of the leading center backs in the Premier League with his physical defense, accurate feeds to the front line, and powerful mid-shot.
In 2012, as his contract was about to expire, Barcelona and Manchester City made moves for the player. The Spanish side was first to sit down for negotiations, and when they were about to finalize the deal, the other club made a high offer.
However, the former Bröndby defender, who had no intention of moving to a rival team in the Premier League, revealed that he had adamantly refused to accept Manchester City’s offer to the club, saying that he would not make a move within England.
“It was a strange one,”
“I remember I got presented for all these things and the club asked me what I was going to do and I said, ‘If you want me here, I will stay’. But I said, ‘If you don’t want me, if you don’t see me as part of your future I think it’s time that I go because I want to play football. I prefer to do it here but if you don’t think I’m good enough then I would like to go because these offers are on the table and I don’t know if I will have them next year’.
“I don’t know the story from their side, I think they agreed a price (with Barcelona) and they accepted it and came to me and said, ‘this is it’. I said, ‘okay, fair enough’. But then from the side, another offer came in which was a lot higher, which they accepted and I didn’t want to go to that club.”
“I said, ‘if you want to sell me I go down there (to Barcelona) otherwise I don’t go’. And another offer came in from the same club (Man City), higher, and my feeling was that the club wanted me to go because it was a lot of money back then. I said, ‘there’s no chance I’m going to that club, so better just stop now’.”
Liverpool ECHO
The center back stayed at Anfield until 2014, but gradually lost his place with the appointment of Brendan Rodgers, so he moved to his old club Bromby in the summer of the same year.
2 years of active football followed before he decided to retire in 2016.