More injury agony for Agger as comeback is put on hold again

Jan 15 2008 by Ian Doyle, Liverpool Daily Post

DANIEL AGGER will visit a specialist amid fears he could face at least another month on the sidelines with the metatarsal injury that has ruined his season.

The Denmark international, who was an unused substitute at Middlesbrough on Saturday, suffered a recurrence of the problem during training on Sunday.

The injury has restricted Agger to just six appearances this campaign, his last coming in the goalless draw at Portsmouth on September 15.

Agger was due to make his comeback in a reserve game at Blackburn Rovers last Thursday, only for the game to be postponed due to bad weather.

And a disappointed Rafael Benitez admits he has no idea when the centre-back will be ready to return.

“We’ve had some bad news in that Agger has the same problem again,” said the Anfield manager. “He was training and ready to play but yesterday in training he felt something, so we need to go back and start from the beginning.

“It’s not easy to say when he will be back.

“He is going to see different surgeons and then we will be able to analyse the situation. I don’t think he’ll play in the next few weeks.”

Agger has been wearing a specially commissioned pair of boots to aid his recovery. And the player himself said: “The problem hasn’t been the boots, it was the foot itself just not being right, there has always been something the stopping me, I’ve always had a setback or two.

“I didn’t expect in any way that it would take at least four months, mainly because it’s such a small bone.

“I could maybe have played in a game but then I could have been out for the next four.

“So I think this time we have to wait until it’s fully healed. Until it’s perfect.”

With Agger injured and new signing Martin Skrtel not yet fully fit, Sami Hyypia and Jamie Carragher are poised to continue at centre-back for tonight’s FA Cup third round replay against Luton Town.

Carragher has been handed the captain’s armband to mark his 500th appearance for the club, while Hyypia admits Benitez’s side have to improve on their performance in the 1-1 draw at Kenilworth Road nine days ago.

“We didn’t underestimate them in the first game,” said the Finland international. “They played well but we didn’t have our best day. It’s not that they were that good.

“There are always some upsets in the FA Cup so we have to make sure we do a proper job in the replay.

“At Luton it was very difficult on a small pitch that wasn’t in a very good condition.

“We just couldn’t play our game and I think the manager said that the positive thing is that we are still in the competition. This time, we have to do the job on the night,” he added.

Agger is the only major injury absentee for tonight’s game, with Fabio Aurelio recovered from the hamstring strain that ruled him out of the last two games.

Meanwhile, reports in Spain suggest Racing Santander want to take either Sebastian Leto or Nabil El Zhar on loan until the end of the season, with Liverpool keen to have first option on Racing’s highly-rated centre-back Ezequiel Garay in return.

Atletico Madrid are also said to have joined Valencia in the race to sign Momo Sissoko, with interest from Juventus having cooled over the weekend.