Brondby sign Daniel Agger from Liverpool for £3m

Denmark international defender Daniel Agger has left Liverpool to return to boyhood club Brondby in a deal reportedly worth just £3 million.

Agger, 29, joined the Reds from Brondby in January 2006 — at the time, he was the most expensive export from the Danish Superliga — for a fee of £6 million and made 232 appearances in all competitions for the club.

Following the big-money arrival of Dejan Lovren from Southampton, Agger became Brendan Rodgers’ fourth-choice centre-back, behind the aforementioned Lovren, Mamadou Sakho and Martin Skrtel.

Kolo Toure, who turned down the opportunity to join Turkish side Trabzonspor earlier this summer, will fill in for the departing Agger as Liverpool’s insurance policy in central defence.

All things considered, Agger is delighted to “return home” to Brondby, and rightly so.

“Liverpool have been such a big part of my life and my family’s lives for so long, that leaving is extremely difficult,” Agger said.

“The opportunity arose for me to return home to Brondby and at this stage of my career it felt like the right decision for me.

“I wouldn’t leave here to go anywhere else and that has been proven by my actions in recent seasons – I have turned down many offers to move to other Premier League and European clubs.

“I would like to thank the Liverpool supporters for the incredible backing they have given me in my time here and the warmth and generosity of spirit displayed to my family.

“This has been our home and somewhere we have been very happy and settled. However, more recently I have started to feel the effects of playing regularly in a league that is as physically demanding as the Premier League is, and I would not want to stay if I did not think that I was able to meet that challenge week in, week out.

“The club itself is very special and I shall remain a supporter for the rest of my life. I regard every game I played at Anfield as a privilege.”

Agger’s move to Copenhagen comes as a complete shock after the player was linked with Barcelona earlier this summer, but all credit to Liverpool, who granted him his wish by agreeing a nominal fee for one of Europe’s most highly-rated defenders.

As we know, Barcelona — who agreed a deal for Douglas Pereira dos Santos this week — eventually opted to sign Jeremy Mathieu from Valencia and Thomas Vermaelen from Arsenal.