7 Jul 2014

You're Out: BR tried to dump 'outstanding' £15m star 3 months ago. LFC desperate to sell

In May, Anfield legend Jamie Carragher suggested that Reds boss Brendan Rodgers does not rate Daniel Agger, and it appears that he may be right, as reports today claim that Liverpool are actively trying to sell the Dane, and have been trying to offload him for some time.

According to Spanish newspaper Mundo Deportivo today:

* Liverpool offered £15m-rated Agger to Barcelona three months ago.

* The offer was made to Barca via Agger's Agent.

* Barcelona allegedly rejected the offer due to Agger's injury history, and his involvement in LFC's decline prior to last season.

It is further claimed that Liverpool are still 'desperate' to sell Agger, which seems to make sense given the club's pursuit of Dejan Lovren, and Agger's reduced role last season.

In a recent interview, Mark Lawrenson claimed that Agger 'will be allowed to go' if the 'money is right':

"Agger has not been an automatic first choice this season. Rodgers watches him in training on a regular basis and has clearly seen something he doesn’t like. If a manager doesn’t fancy a player, usually that’s that".

Jamie Carragher also believes that Rodgers doesn't rate Agger. Speaking to Sky Sports, he noted:

"I've mentioned before I don't think he [Rodgers] is the biggest fan of Daniel Agger and that's why he always seems to leave him out".

Given the fact Rodgers made Agger vice-captain of the club, the contention that he doesn't like the Dane seems strange. Rodgers always seems to praise Agger in the highest terms (most recently labelling him 'outstanding'), but he overpraises most players, so maybe we shouldn't read too much into that.

That said, Agger himself recently claimed that Rodgers doesn't think he's 'good enough', so a parting of the ways seems inevitable. It feels to me, however, that the ship may have sailed on this particular transfer.

* The Reds rejected a £15m bid from Barcelona during last summer's transfer window, which was (arguably) the ideal time to sell.

* After a decent season, Agger's value was at an all-time high; Barcelona wanted him, and the Reds had plenty of defensive options to cover his loss.

* Now, Barcelona seemingly don't want Agger anymore; his value has probably declined due to an indifferent season (and more injuries), and Liverpool may struggle to get £8m-£10m.

Lucas, Johnson, and Agger are relics of the Benitez era; the squad has moved on, and it's time for a change. The same could be said of Skrtel, but he has adapted well to Rodgers' playing style, and possibly saved himself from the Anfield scrapheap. Agger, it seems, is not so lucky.

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62 comments:

  1. Unfortunately it may be time for Agger to move on. As a footballer I've seen very few cb's who are as comfortable and accomplished as Agger on the ball, unfortunately he seems to struggle when he comes up against physical opponents, which hes up against most weeks in the PL. He's been a good servant to the club and loyal when talk of moving to other clubs but now it may be time to seek pastures new.

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  2. Agger is a great player, but his time at Anfield is up. I really hope he gets the transfer he deserves and Barcelona could do a lot worse than sign him.

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  3. Agger has become such a part of the furniture at Anfield that it seems odd to be talking about moving him along. I like him, always have; he's dedicated and he clearly has a great affection for the club. In the ever more cynical and mercenary world of professional football I respect any player with that attitude and for that reason I will be sad to see him leave. But those injuries have clearly taken their toll and as comfortable on the ball as he is, he is too easily outstripped for pace. I feel he could still have some useful part to play, but I've no doubt that will depend on his willingness to become a bit part player, sitting out the majority of games.

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  4. He spends more time on the treatment table than on the pitch. It's time to move him on while he still has a decent transfer value.

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  5. He may as well move on to a club with a realistic chance of winning something. He's a very good player and thus completely out of place in Liverpool's atrocious defence.

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  6. voted keep, because nobody would be willing to pay a decent price for a "squad player" like agger was this season... if there comes a good offer in (about 15m) the club should keep him, eventhough a lot of fans would be upset... i personally think it's time for agger to move on, and replace him with a younger stronger player, just like lovren is one... keeping agger wouldnt be a major misstake tho, he's a quality player, who loves the club and is very experienced, something we will obviously need next year in CL

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  7. I like Agger, and see him as the perfect person to help Sakho settle in, and also help players like Lovren and Iloris develop. He is good on the ball, and one of the few defenders currently in the Prem who can bring the ball out of defence.


    i agree with the comment that he struggles with some of the more physical teams, but as most of those only play 1 up front I would let Sakho deal with them and let Agger do what he does best.


    For me it would be a big mistake to totally dismantle a defence, no matter how poorly it played.


    My starting defensive line up would be Flannagan, Lovren, Sakho, ROJO (Hopefully), Back-up Jihnson, Agger, Iloris, Enrique if ever fit of EMRE (Available on a free)

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  8. Rodgers is right! Agger, Skrtel and Reina got too comfortable, believed they were irreplaceable. All three have become weak-links and opponents have seized on that fact. Johnson is another that needs shifting along with Lucas. Lucas came on leaps and bounds then suffered an injury and hasn't been anywhere near his best.

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  9. Shit from set plays

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  10. I actually don't think it would do Sakho any harm to be understudy to Agger for at least one more season. Agger is a far more polished defender at this point in their respective careers IMO. I've read elsewhere that Skrtel has been told he can go for the right price so who knows what's going on. Maybe Rodgers thinks with a better organiser (Lovren) beside him agger could be great again. Who knows what the solution to our defence is. Hopefully it's Lovren

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  11. Theycallmemrburt10:32 pm, July 07, 2014

    With our full backs pushing on we need center halves who can defend one on one against pace. My lasting memory of Agger this season is being given a two meter head start and blown out by Frasier Campbell was it? someone correct me please. All of Rafa's signings should be sold now with the exception of Sterling (youth team) and MAYBE Lucas..... maybe.

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  12. Theycallmemrburt11:04 pm, July 07, 2014

    I wonder who Kenny would buy? *drifts of to the days of Charlie Adam *SLAP* yep sign this lad ASAP lol

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  13. Still don't think selling most of our defence is the answer. If we get rid of Agger, Skertle and Toure we then need at least 2 more defenders.


    Pay big money and get Lovren, that gives us 2. Bring Iloris back and give him a chance and spend how much on another Central Defender.


    I like Caulker but he again I go back to the fact we would have 3 new defenders with the 4th only being with the club a short time. Just feels too much too soon.

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  14. Theycallmemrburt11:05 pm, July 07, 2014

    I'm really not a fan but if Markovic represents the best available then he represents footballs decline and our quick thinking to sign him (put all that together :) )

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  15. Stewart Downing clearly

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  16. We were promised quality players that could slot right in and give us a fighting chance of doing well in the CL by BR i have yet to see that promise fulfilled, some good players yes but i expected players of the same or near quality of Suarez, e.g.Hummels etc. not going to happen!!

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  17. I think that it's actually €25M. I've seen £19.8M quoted. Not saying that this makes it a bargain but let's wait and see. One thing we do know is that Rodgers does tend to get the best out of attacking talent.

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  18. Those players don't seem to want to come. Can't force them to live in Liverpool.

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  19. Ps: when we bought Suarez he was untapped potential too.

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  20. i sup[pose we ve moved from £8-10 million to 10 -25 euro's!

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  21. cr@p clickbait website11:36 pm, July 07, 2014

    Occasionally i click on your click-bait headlines, and am always dissappointed. Have you ever had anything postive to say about Rafa, Kenny or Brendan?
    As far as i can tell the only positive article you've ever written was about Roy.
    You don't care about LFC, only about generating clicks to increase your advertising revenue.

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  22. Is it me or are markovic s YouTube clips are terrible . Normally they give you a "rose tinted glass " look at a player . Most of them end in poor passes , poor touches or poor shots on goal . Why are we discussing a 25m investment here . When Suarez goes we are in trouble is this is our replacement .

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  23. Wonder what they're smokin over at your house. Must be some good sh*t to prompt a comment of such jibberish

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  24. this story again


    boring!!!!!

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  25. Fsg use the moneyball adage of finding players, not top stats, the scouting team is looking deeper, not just goals and assist. In baseball they looked for walks, on base %, not home runs and RBI's, cos it helped the team more. In football they look for versatility, passing %, age, chances created. I personally don't no much about him, but tbh fsg have got it right more than wrong at Boston AND at Liverpool. Yes we have had a few duds, but most have done ok, a lot better than ok. I trust them, they have helped improve my team tenfold in the last 3 years, yes 25 million is a lot, for a 29 year old, he's a kid with a lot of upside and we have the money. I would love for us to get Sanchez or even hames, but we can't quite attract them yet, give it time

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  26. One thing I'll say about Rodgers' overpraising:


    If he overpraises everyone, then he doesn't really set anyone apart from each other.


    It's like the idea that if everyone is special, then no one is special.

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  27. Primeira Liga, Portuguese Cup and Europa League finalist (not to mention being in the Europa League team of the season) a good indicator of top quality? A one in five league goal ratio isn't bad either. Lack of assists is of some concern, but I'd prefer to reserve judgement on the player till he's actually started playing... Spurs looked like they'd signed quality last year, they've mostly turned out to be a crock of sh*te.

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  28. I'm still waiting for them to solve the defense. We had no issue scoring goals last year. At the end of the season, the reason why we didn't finish first was because we couldn't stop the opposing offenses (especially earlier in the season).


    Rickie Lambert and Adam Lallana are nice signings. I'm not sure though they'll make a difference right now.


    Though I gather if Suarez leaves, our style of play will be adjusted to provide more protection for our defense, and we'll give up less goals and score less goals by default.

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  29. This is about transfers. Not shot percentage.

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  30. I think I get what you mean. Took me quite some time...

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  31. Thank you. I'm glad someone understands this simple question

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  32. Again correct. But still I'd keep Agger. That is why they own it, and that is why I only support them

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  33. they don't live in Liverpool, they live in the leafy small very rich areas just outside! thought you would know that coming from Liverpool, oh youre not from here then??

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  34. I am convinced that is a given that pecking order looks like this- Sakho, Lovren, Skrtel. The question is do we need Agger than, and is he willing to be our fourth defender for couple of more years. Or he wants to leave somewhere for first team action, but where that could lead him to? In my opinion he should stay few more years and become our legend as the guy who came in and saved us. Repeatedly..

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  35. I think Agger is a brilliant footballer, but may be more suited to La Liga or Serria A. Also, we could have tried him as a DM rather than CB, for his brilliant silky touches, comfort on ball & passing ranges. May be at almost 30, it's time for him to go to the comfort of La Liga & I don't mind, as long as we are getting Lovern.

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  36. er... no he wasn't he was a star at Ajax, hence his massive turn out when he left, and £22.5 million was not cheap at the time, he just wasn't well known here, and he just got better while he was here.

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  37. We leaked goals last year and we are yet to buy a defender. Currently, we've bought 3 and 2 more on the way. So were we to buy a CB and full back, that would make 7 additions. Not bad if you think we went the last window with no additions.

    But (and a BIG BUT) none of the recruits are genuine world class and it takes time to bed in new players. For me, this Lazar guy feels very similar to the Spurs Eric Lamela. Just hope he doesn't turn out the same.

    Numbers does not equal quality,

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  38. I am so excited to see a new season of Flanagan's..

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  39. Liverpool area then. They prefer to live in London than the Liverpool area. And actually I love Liverpool and am there often. However from the talk about Sanchez it's this issue that is dissuading him from joining the club. I'm just speaking on the issue no need to get your knickers in a twist. It looks as though big name players would prefer to be elsewhere so if that's the case and we're spending money it seems harsh to attack our transfers this early in the summer. Honestly I'm finding it hard to identify big name players who are open to coming here with or without CL football at the moment. So that money gets spent on hungry players like Lallana, Markovic, Lovren and possibly Shaqiri. Hard to find fault in the enforced strategy other than the cost and even then are we really going to complain that FSG are spending whatever it takes to land AVAILABLE and WILLING targets? Unfortunately this isn't FIFA 2014. Players have a choice and despite last year's heroics we're still considered 2nd tier thanks to previous mismanagement and maladministration.

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  40. I really hope we contacted Di Maria, Rodrigez and Sanchez and that at the end of the day we will see one of them in red. But still, I'm looking forward to seeing Markovic..

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  41. As could Markovic. Like I said who knows, but truthfully it seems that we are still third tier in the Euro transfer market behind the likes of Real, Barca, Chelsea, Man City, Bayern Munich and PSG. Be it a geographical issue or a recent achievement issue, it's not worth complaining about big names that we could never get. If Man City were in for Suarez at the time we would never have got him. Now if Arsenal are in for big name Sanchez we can't get him. It's just reality and we as fans have to deal with and support the club. It will change if these players are a success and if we support them they have more chance of being a success.

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  42. Actually Nick theres 25 million reasons saying he is supposed to be a star or do we just keep paying big for possible mediocrity!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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  43. A defence made of Sakho, Lovren, Skrtel, with or without big Dane, Kelly, Wisdom Llori, Flanagan, Johnson, Enrique and a 20 million pounds left back. Looks great but might be expensive- between 20 and 40 mill if we don't sell.

    Midfield from Gerrard, Henderson, Coutinho, Lallana, Can, Markovic. That only costs 25 mill(with31 mill spent already) and you can keep as many players as you think might be useful. And there is a lot to choose from with Sterling available for the number 10 role already, Lukas, Suso, Ibe..

    In attack you have Sturridge Lambert and if you want him there Borini with amazing Sterling.. There is something missing. A big piece is missing, but you have 76 mill(Lambert counted in) to spend on Rodrigez, Di Maria or Sanchez.
    So you buy a 10 mill full back, Lovren, Markovic Can, Lallana and Lambert for 88 mill hoping for cheapest of the 3 (probably) available top players but with couple of sales we could buy Di Maria, and be within Fifa fair play rules.. And with extra ten mill on the left back, you are attacking every trophy you are playing for. Without selling Suarez you need Man city kind of transfer kitty. But if we play well next season and get top 4 again, which we surely will, than you are one player away from all those trophies, which you might develop..
    Plus, all the players that were OUTSTANDING will be much better, except from Gerrard, who we must start managing as an older player so we can let him lead us for 4- 5 more years.
    Great season ahead, regardless of who will keep, let go or get..

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  44. Another attacking player? Isn't improving defence our priority this transfer window.

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  45. Keep him if he can cope with being choice number 4.

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  46. Agger is alright, but if there's going to be a bunch of CBs on the team, and he would ride the bench - it's best for him if he goes, but if he stays he's decent enough.


    But on the topic of defense, am I the only one bothered that there's no link to any RB's or anyone being linked to a move for Johnson???


    I know there's Flanno, and he plays with all his heart, but it would appear if Johnson stayed, he'd be guaranteed a start - and IMO he's not that great at either defending or attacking - for the time he spends attacking, his "specific measurable input" isn't all that great. Surely there's another RB out there that can attack and defend better than GJ - or at least do one of those things really well.. Seamus Coleman maybe? The right wing had to be Liverpool's biggest leak in defense - surely BR also sees this, right?

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  47. George Hardaker1:54 am, July 08, 2014

    I think what i want to say is if BR had said i want to sign the best we can afford i would have been ok with that! not imply we were going to sign top quality which is what he did.

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  48. George Hardaker1:56 am, July 08, 2014

    spot on mate, no argument from me!

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  49. Then u may wanna ask yourself some of the following questions. Do we have an owner that has unlimited funds like what Man City, Chelsea and PSG are having? Are we as marketable as Man Utd, Real Madrid and Barcelona? Do we have a bigger stadium than Man Utd, Arsenal, Barcelona and Real Madrid? Are we getting any state funds like what Real Madrid is getting? Is Liverpool an attractive city compared to say, London?

    Can any club do a 'Shevchenko' transfer and say 'never mind, forget it and move on'? Chelsea yes, Man City yes, Man Utd yes, Real Madrid yes, Barcelona yes, LFC...I'm sorry, it's a big no-no. But again, will the 5 above mentioned mega clubs spend 35 mil pounds on Andy Carroll? The answer is again big no-no. Only wannabe mega club like LFC with no real star-attracting capability will make such historic silly deals. Now I bet all smaller club owners in Europe are smiling whenever LFC comes knocking on their doors. That's when they can earn real dollars. Against mega clubs, they know realistically they have no chance of doing so, they can only hold wannabe mega club like LFC to ransom.

    I've been a very loyal LFC fan since season 1989-90. To see the club being ultra wasteful in the transfer market is a very sad thing to me. We do not know how to operate the club within our means. Arsenal is a traditional big club in England who used to be a sidekick of LFC in the Div 1 era. They now enjoy better fortunes than us because they have a much sensible owner and the best manager around. They are very much ahead of us in terms of a new stadium, gate receipts, attractiveness to mega players like Ozil and consistently good results on pitch. Best part, they run the club prudently and don't spend crazy money on unestablished and unproven players like LFC. Until we learn the art of running a non-mega soccer club like them, we will remain their sidekick in the EPL.

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  50. You see, only mega clubs will try to buy key players from big club like LFC. But they are usually smart enough to go away once they know the club that does not want and need to sell. LFC has a big tradition of overpaying, one of the reason they always target first team regulars from clubs that does not want and need to sell.

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  51. You just showed up how out of touch your argument is. I was guessing myself, just making up the numbers, but as it turns out scoring from 2 of 10 free kicks is precisely an average rate. Suarez scored 3 times from 13 spot kicks. Rooney scored 3 from 9. Both of these rates are in the top 10 in the league. By ignoring real world performance and thinking you can independently make an "objective" rating you have come up with a completely erroneous rating system. You'd have us believe that Suarez is "objectively bad" at converting free kicks which of course is total nonsense.



    It's like many things in life - the armchair expert can look at something that top professionals are doing and think to himself "that looks easy, these guys are rubbish if they can't do it" but the reality just doesn't match up. Scoring from a free kick is hard. Unless you actually check out real world performance across a number of players you simply can't make a useful value judgement of one player. It's precisely the same with a manager's transfer record. We don't have the records of other managers, and no, I'm not saying it's simple or linear, stop putting words in my mouth. All the original poster was saying is that he'd be interested in the comparison because it seems relevant and I agree. I actually suspect that compared to other top 6 managers Rodger's success rate is worse than average but only by knowing that average can we know. If that turns out to be a complicated discussion then so be it, but so what? That just makes it more interesting.

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  52. mr mephestopheles2:13 am, July 08, 2014

    His work rate, fair enough. I think it's also for his carrying the ball at true pace. If you consider we will have sturridge as the main focal point next year, then with sterling and markovic we can turn over and rush opposition faster than anyone else in the league. We'll have balance on the break too, coutinho or lallana threading a 3 pronged lightning counter.....i reckon he's a shout, at least he's better than downing so all golden baby.....like everyone said brendan can coach him anyway.

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  53. With the offer for Lovren I think it's obvious. We don't desperately need to overhaul our defence, I think the tactical approach is the biggest issue, but if we can improve then we should, and this is an opportunity to clearly do so. Agger has been great and he's had one stand-out season for us, but one season out of a career isn't enough and whatever Rodgers doesn't like probably won't change now. I don't think it would be the end of the world if we don't sell him but the fact that we made an offer for Lovren without first selling Agger is telling. I wasn't sure that we were going to buy a centre back this summer but there is no doubt now. It will be best for everyone if Agger leaves.


    As for selling him last year ... I think we would have been in a hole. There was a period of time when injuries meant we desperately needed every centre back we had. That can always happen and being short wouldn't have been a good idea. 15 million in the bank is worthless if you can't field a strong team and whatever weaknesses Agger has he's still better than whatever youth option we would have had to go with at the time. As bad as our defence was, it would have been worse without him.


    Lovren, Skrtel and Sakho will compete for two starting spots, even rotate to a certain extent. Injuries and fatigue should be expected so I think having three top class players for those two positions is absolutely required. Toure is still on the bench and Ilori will need to be managed - maybe another season on loan or maybe he can learn something training with the first team and getting some limited time on the pitch. It's a good balance and should give us a better defensive result next season.

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  54. I think on balance maybe there isn't. We can pick holes in Johnson's performances but I think much of it is overblown. No, he's not at the top of his game, he has his deficiencies, but when he plays well he's good enough and I don't see too many value options to replace him. This might turn out to be his last season at the club so maybe it's a case of sticking with him, squeezing that last bit of worth out of his time at the club. If there is some confidence that Enrique will be fit then we can have Flanno and Johnson push each other for the same spot and then we still try and find that quality LB like Moreno, Bertrand, or whoever else is on the list. It might just be that finding the quality players you mention is not that easy. I don't really know.

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  55. He's STILL better than that average piece of crap Sahko! 18M for a mostly invisible season! Ridiculous... Rodgers performance in the transfer market continues to be average at best. He (or maybe the clowns on "the committee" ) needs to pick it up if we are going to challenge again for top 4 while playing in 3 different cups.. right now WHEN suarez leaves the overall quality of the roster will have gone backwards with Can being on the ONLY solid summer signing.

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  56. I have said similar things before but somehow it does still seem to work.
    People seem to thing it's hyperbole when applied to others but true when applied to them.

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  57. Daniels problem last season was that Steven Gerrad builds up the play from the deep and there is no need for a ball playing defender like Agger. This will continue this season and i will be sad to see him go, because he is a with regular game time under his belt a world class footballer. Thankfully i can still see him playing for the danish national team, but would prefer he stayed in the set up and got his share of games when we know we'll have the ball 70 % of the time. Don't think he'll settle for being a rotation player though. So looks like he'll go

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  58. Mr. Point Of View8:55 am, July 08, 2014

    Lovren is 20m then Agger only 15m? So how much % been mark up for Lovren and how much % too low for Agger? hahahhaa

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  59. He just praises all the players to the press, what he says to them behind closed doors will be more than likely different. Do not air dirty laundry in public etc. The Liverpool way.

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  60. I voted sell but only because that is what is best for Agger, The guy deserves more than to sit on the bench behind a clown like Sakho. If that fool puts on his "mean face" even once next season I'll fly over and kick him in the nuts. The guy is as twisted as Balotelli but without the talent.

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