Agger, towering figure in Danish defence

Agger's Liverpool side finished the Premier League season in seventh place, their worst position since 1999, and were dumped out of the Champions League after the group stage.
Signed from Brondby, Agger cost Liverpool 5 million pounds ($7.4 million) in January 2006.

Manager Rafael Benitez said he had captured one of the best Danish centre-halves for 20 years. A tall, strong central defender who reads the game well and has a powerful left foot, Agger was an established international when he arrived at Anfield and had won the Danish title in 2005. His impressive performances for Brondby in that title-winning season earned him a call-up to the national squad and he made his international debut against Finland in June 2005. The first of his three goals for the national team came in a 6-1 thrashing of Georgia in a 2006 World Cup qualifier. Agger's time at Anfield has been blighted by injuries and he was limited to four appearances in his first half-season.

He was voted Danish Player of the Year in 2007 before injury struck again. A foot injury limited him to five appearances for the Reds during the 2007/08 season. Two years later, an operation on a persistent back injury forced him to miss the start of the 2009/10 season.  Eight of Agger's 29 international caps came during the qualifying campaign for South Africa as the 25-year-old re-established himself in the Danish defence.