BARCELONA are the latest big name club to check on Daniel Agger’s increasingly fraught situation at Anfield.
The Spanish giants have watched the centre half twice in the last week, and plan to check on him again at Stamford Bridge this evening, as Liverpool attempt to overturn a 3-1 Champions’ League deficit against Chelsea.
Already, AC Milan and Juventus have expressed their interested in the Danish international, after he has so far resisted all Anfield attempts to persuade him to sign a new contract.
The defender has a little more than a year left on his current deal, and the top continental clubs are sniffing the chance to get him on the cheap, as his contract runs down.
Liverpool have offered a new deal worth in excess of £55,000 a week, but Agger insists that it is not a matter of money, but of his role in the side.
And he admitted earlier this week that a matter of trust lasts at the heart of his decision over whether to stay.
The centre half made it clear his relationship with manager Rafa Benitez will hold the key to his future.
The Spanish coach has made it clear that he wants the defender to land a new deal, but Agger insisted that only when he sees that message clearly in the manager’s eyes will he know he should stay.
“It is nice to hear the manager wants to keep me, but the most important thing is what he tells me when I look him in the eyes,” he said.
“It’s not what he says in the papers, it is what he says behind closed doors. I keep talks with the club confidential, so I cannot tell you what has been said.”
Agger has been overlooked of Benitez’s preferred partnership of Jamie Carragher and Martin Skrtel for much of the season, but he started against Blackburn on Saturday.
And the Denmark international offered hope to the Reds fans when he insisted that his heart is at the club, despite the latest interest from Barca.
“I am at the stage of my career where I need to play – and want to play – but that situation has nothing to do with the contract talks,” he said.
“I don’t know when things will be decided. I don’t have a clue. In my heart, I hope I will be here next season. But, really, I don’t know.”
