Manchester City Make Shock £13m Bid for Liverpool Defender – Report

Manchester City have reportedly made an opening bid of £13million for Liverpool centre-back Daniel Agger as manager Roberto Mancini looks to secure his first signing of the season.

The Premier League champions are yet to strengthen their squad but have seen all of their near rivals complete some business this summer with Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea all making numerous signings.

The Daily Mirror has reported that City manager Roberto Mancini is prepared to allow Kolo Toure to leave the club and has already identified a potential replacement by making an offer of £13million to Liverpool for Agger.

Tour has just one year remaining on his contract and has fallen down the pecking order at the Etihad, with Jolean Lescott, Vincent Kompany and Stevan Savic all considered ahead of the former Arsenal man.

City are hoping to find a buyer for Toure as they would like to remove him from the wage bill as he is believed to earn as much as £120,000-a-week on his current deal.

Denmark international Agger has struggled with injuries throughout his Anfield career, but when he is fit to play he is considered one of the best defenders at the club and last season formed an impressive partnership with Martin Skrtel.

Liverpool have already turned down the offer but it seems they may face an uphill task to keep Agger as there is believed to be interest from Spanish giants Real Madrid and Barcelona.

Agger is believed to have told manager Brendan Rodgers that he would like to leave the club and is expected to reveal his decision within the next two weeks as Manchester City prepare to up their offer.

Rodgers will certainly not want to lose the vastly experienced defender as he is short of options at the heart of defence, with Jamie Carragher coming towards the end of his long career and Sebastian Coates at the other end of the scale with little Premier League experience.

Youngster Martin Kelly has played at centre-back for the England Under-21 side, but Rodgers will still hope to convince Agger to remain at the club as he looks to restore the club back to a side challenging for Champions League football.