/ 12 January 2006

Liverpool poised to add new defender

Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez is poised to boost his defensive ranks once again with the capture of Denmark international Danny Agger.

Benitez has already added Dutchman Jan Kromkamp from Spanish high-flyers Villarreal to his squad during the January transfer window after identifying his defence as an area that needed more strength-in-depth.

Liverpool are believed to have agreed a fee of about £5,8-million with Agger’s current club, Brondby of Denmark.

Agger was due to join up with his country’s under-21 squad on Monday at a training camp in Chile, but he may now be training at Anfield instead.

Denmark head coach Morten Olsen believes Agger has the talent and temperament to succeed in the Premiership.

”He is confident about what he can do at the moment — he still has something to learn and he has a good mentality and if he goes to Liverpool I can only say they will have a top-class player,” Olsen told Sky Sports.

”He certainly has to play 25 games because only in that way will he become a better player, and he is only 21, so he is not a player for the bench.

”Of course, he has got to accept he maybe cannot play in the first team in every game, but I am sure he will show that he is a top-class player.”

The 21-year-old was a long-time target for Benitez and is also thought to have interested Italian giants Juventus, German champions Bayern Munich and Liverpool’s Premiership rivals Tottenham.

The Liverpool manager tried to sign the centre-back last summer as cover for Jamie Carragher and Sami Hyypia.

Agger is fit again after recovering from damaging knee ligaments during a training session at Brondby in September.

That halted his rapid progress with club and country, where he made an immediate impression during the World Cup qualifiers.

The centre-back is believed to have travelled to Liverpool on Wednesday to complete a medical and sources at Brondby confirmed he had not turned up for training that day. — Sapa-AFP