Barcelona Transfer Rumours: Daniel Agger Should Be Priority Ahead of David Luiz

With attacking responsibilities seemingly sorted at the Camp Nou, heads now turn toward how the defensive line can improve at Barcelona.

Gerardo Martino’s side has become linked with a raft of star centre-backs in the last few weeks, the Premier League pair of Daniel Agger and David Luiz particularly frequent in their speculation involvement.

However, were it to come down to a choice between those two, it should be the Liverpool stalwart who is seen as the priority in Barca’s plans, Luiz representing an altogether more risky acquisition.

According to the Mirror’s Alan Nixon and Dean Jones, Agger, who was very recently appointed Reds vice-captain, is drawing the attention of the Spanish champions, while John Edwards of the Daily Mail says that Barcelona have already launched a £17 million bid.

This comes after Jose Mourinho supposedly rebuffed the Spaniards in their pursuit of Luiz, telling them to look into their other targets instead.

The Daily Mail’s John Drayton has alleged that Luiz will put a twist on things, however, by informing his current club of his intentions to leave Stamford Bridge this summer.

Even if such an event occurs, though, Martino may want to reconsider just who he sees as the superior signing.

The general consensus in the media would appear to be that Luiz’s signature is worth somewhere in the region of £35 million, which Jack de Menezes of the Independent backs up.

However, should the aforementioned price tag of £17 million be correct for Agger, the Dane would undoubtedly be the more valuable deal between the two.

While Agger might be the older of the two at 28 years of age, it’s still plausible that Barca would get the best years out of the centre-back’s career were they to sign him soon, while Luiz’s resale value is perhaps a factor in his pricing, considering he’s just 26.

Spanish journalist Guillem Balague took to Twitter to explain the situation regarding Agger and Luiz to his followers:

That being said, when delving further into their performance standards, Agger’s two-year age disadvantage would count for little.

According to Squawka, last season saw Luiz register an average of eight defensive actions per game, complete 82 percent of his passes and win an average 56 percent of all his duels.

In contrast, while Agger also maintained an average of eight defensive actions per match, the Danish international comes out looking superior with a passing accuracy of 89 percent and winning 62 percent of all duels.

What’s more, some might see the Brazilian as the more potent attacking threat between the two, but Agger’s three goals in the 2012-13 Premier League campaign trumps Luiz’s tally of just two.

It’s also worth considering the fact that Agger comes out with these statistics despite featuring in a far less star-studded lineup, shouldering a great deal of the defensive brunt himself and only likely to improve with better players around him.

Considering his exorbitant valuation, another attribute going in Luiz’s favour is the fact he’s able to play in an anchoring midfield role, but given their strength in that part of the pitch, one wouldn’t expect that to be a ruling concern for Barca.

Instead, for somewhere near half the price, Barcelona could secure one of the more underrated servants of the English top flight—one Brendan Rodgers would be devastated to lose.