Wednesday, May 06, 2009

Ian Rush: Daniel Agger Deal Can Be Vital For Liverpool FC

Rafa Benitez deserves a lot of credit for getting Daniel Agger’s future sorted out because there was a time when it looked like he could end up leaving Liverpool.

Contracts are never easy to agree, particularly in the modern game.

It’s very rare these days that a deal will be struck really quickly in the way that Steven Gerrard’s was, but the situation with Agger was becoming increasingly worrying because there didn’t seem to be any real signs that an agreement would be reached.

But Rafa has come up with a deal that Agger is happy with – and this can only be good news for everyone at Anfield.

Agger is a young player with a lot of potential and I think he could become a very important part of Liverpool’s future.

It’s obvious to say that the most important part of being a defender is being able to defend and Agger can certainly do that.

He reads the game well, gets into good positions to make tackles and is decent in the air.

But he also brings something different in that he is so comfortable on the ball that he can easily add to Liverpool’s midfield numbers on days when teams come to Anfield and don’t go beyond the halfway line.

If you have a player like Agger who can bring the ball out of defence it can make a massive difference, as I know from my own experience at Liverpool.

We were really fortunate to have a player like Alan Hansen who would break out of central defence and link up with play higher up the pitch.

This was a really effective tactic for us, particularly when our opponents would try to play for a draw.

The fact that we had a centre back who could start attacks meant that it was more difficult for us to be stopped and I think that Agger can do a similar job for the current team.

I wouldn’t like to compare him with Hansen, although there are obvious similarities, and Agger has the potential to score a lot more goals than Alan ever did!

We have already seen the power of his shooting on several occasions and I think there are quite a few more goals to come from him because his technique is excellent.

He is still learning but hopefully he is over his injures, because if Agger’s progress continues he can become a very important player for Liverpool.

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