14 Sept 2011

DANIEL AGGER: In the 'Last Chance Saloon' at Liverpool FC?

Over the last 5 years, Daniel Agger has (unfortunately) been one of Liverpool's most injured players. It's a shame because when he's fit and on form, Agger is an excellent player, and he's shown that in the games he's played this season. However, if the Dane suffers yet another injury this season then surely it would be the right time for the club to think about replacing him with a less injury-prone central defender.

Agger seems to be enjoying his football this season, and he's upbeat about his fitness:

“Fitness-wise I am happy right now, but as the season carries on you get more games under your belt and you get stronger, quicker and better".

This is great, and I sincerely hope that his fitness holds out. However, the brutal truth is that based on his past history, the probability of Agger *not* picking up another injury is slim. Let's take a look at the facts:

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KEY POINTS

* A total of 21 months out injured since arriving.

* This equates to 43% of his time at Liverpool on the sidelines.

* Averages only 25 games per season

* Has only featured in 46% of Liverpool's games since 2006

* Averages 3.8 months of injury time per season

At some point, Liverpool surely has to look at the amount of time spent on the sidelines and make a decision about whether keeping Agger is actually beneficial to the club.

With Jamie Carragher winding down, the club will need a new core central defensive partnership in the near future, and a successful partnership cannot be formed unless both central defenders are uninjured for most of the time, and play the majority of games together.

Sadly, I don't see Agger being a long-term solution, especially with his fitness history. Of course, the opposite could be true and he may never get another injury for his whole career. That would be the ideal, but the probability of that is clearly very low.

Last season, Agger was linked with Inter Milan, and I wrote an article arguing Liverpool should sell at the earliest opportunity. I still feel the same - if a decent offer came in for Agger, Liverpool should take it. It's not a question of quality, it's a question of utility - if a player is regularly injured then the club is not receiving any real benefit for the amount of money being paid out in wages every week.

Whatever happens in the future, at least we can enjoy Agger's performances right now, and hopefully, with any luck, his fitness will finally hold out for more than a few months at a time.

Jaimie Kanwar


5 comments:

  1. I suggested picking up Zapata over the summer, even before finding out the bargain price that he eventually went for! (even our own Skrtel would command the same fee!) Skrtel should move on way before Agger does, but building a team around a player that is awol more often than not can not be a good idea.
     
    imo a matchday trio of Zapata, Agger & Coates with Kelly & Carragher backing them up would've been far better than Agger, Carragher & Skrtel with Coates & Kelly as backup, both in the short term and the long term. Oh well...

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  2. i understand your thinking here Jamie because clearly a player who in unavailable is of little use.  However, even though i know you are not disputing his quality, it is that quality that i would point to as the reason we should keep him.  When fit, i genuinely believe he is one of the top CB's in Europe, and at 26 i think we should give him every opportunity to enjoy his best days at Anfield.  i believe we only poid £5.5m or so for him and therefore think its worth keeping him for the long-term regardless of the liklihood that he will pick up further injuries.

    I completely agree that finding a strong consistant partnership at CB is crucial in the next 12-18 months, but i would hope that Agger forms part of that partnership to be honest.

    I'm also not sure what sort of money we would get for him.  I cant see us getting £10m+ even though i think he is well worth that, so i would again think we are getting decent value by just keeping him even if he only averages 20 games a season for the next few years.

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  3. I think for the next 5 to 10 years we will not have to worry because carragher will be around still. so whilst carragher is around we will attract top quality like jay spearing . the future looks great

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  4. wtf is that guy on about

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  5. Hi Mark - thanks for your comments. I agree with - when fit, Agger is one of the top CBs around. It's possible that he's finally licked his injury problems, and if that's the case, that;s great news for Liverpool.

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