:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/36728434/459964139.0.jpg)
Barcelona's interest in Daniel Agger has become an annual affair--the Catalan club are perennially in the market for defenders, and given the qualities they'd demand in a central defender if they ever actually bought one, Agger's naturally been linked with a move to the Camp Nou nearly every summer for the past three or four years. He's an excellent defender and a good fit, and the speculation--while worrying to those who still rank him as one of the better defenders in Liverpool's squad--had always made a good amount of sense
This summer has been no different, with talk of renewed (or just continued) interest in a deal, but the announcement today that Barcelona have reached an agreement with Arsenal for Thomas Vermaelen means that any chances of a deal for Agger are now very, very slim. Barca paying £15m for the Belgian defender is a significant commitment, one that they're not likely to make twice within the same window for players of a similar profile.
It doesn't rule out an exit completely, of course, and there's still little explanation (at least transfer-related) for his extended absence from training over the past few weeks. Staying at Liverpool remains a possibility, of course, but such an abrupt disappearance is strange for a senior squad member, let alone a player that was named vice-captain last season.
But this at least confirms that one of his longer-running suitors is out of the picture, and now we're left to wonder where Agger might end up if he does leave Liverpool.
