by Redman in wales » Thu Jun 21, 2012 8:46 am
Skrt chasers: City prepare £20million bid for Liverpool's star defender
Brendan Rodgers faces his first major battle as Liverpool boss with Manchester City ready to move for defender Martin Skrtel.
In a classic case of good news bad news for Rodgers, centre-half and Denmark Euro 2012 star Daniel Agger has expressed his desire to extend his Anfield contract.
But the other half of last season’s impressive central defensive partnership, Skrtel, is the focus of serious interest from Roberto Mancini’s title winners.
And that will present a big test for Rodgers, who will meet the defender in an attempt to persuade him to remain with Liverpool.
Skrtel got married at the weekend and has put any question of his future on hold until he returns from his honeymoon in a fortnight.
City though, are preparing a £20million bid, with boss Roberto Mancini settled on the Slovakia defender as his main transfer target after being priced out of a move for Brazil star Thiago Silva.
His Italian club AC Milan want £35m for the 27-year old, and Mancini sees the dependable Skrtel - voted Player of the Year at the Reds last season - as a better bet.
After four years at Anfield, he has also been the subject of interest from moneybags Russian side Anzhi Makhachkala.
Yet City have the financial muscle to compete with any club, and the defender certainly hasn’t ruled out a move to the Premier League champions, after admitting his frustration at Liverpool’s eighth-placed finish and failure to reach the Champions League.
The Reds were hoping to persuade Skrtel to pen a new contract, but it seems it is Agger who will be first to extend his current deal, after he returned from Euro 2012 ready to negotiate.
“It’s no secret that I’m happy to be in Liverpool. Otherwise, I would not have been there for six years,” he told sporten.dk.
“I have not yet discussed a new contract but if they come with an offer I will surely sit down and talk with them. If they ask, I will listen.”
Alberto Aquilani will also return to Liverpool after failing to agree terms for his release.
The misfit Italian midfielder wanted a free transfer AND a pay-off to leave Anfield, and understandably, the Reds have baulked at that deal.
Rodgers though, wants rid of the Italy international after his failure to settle in the Premier League.
The new boss will negotiate hard in the coming weeks to get his £80,000-plus a week wages off the books.
FRom the mirror
