Christian Eriksen suggests Liverpool had a £6m centre-back even better than Raphael Varane

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Christian Eriksen has overlooked former Manchester United teammate Raphael Varane in favour of an ex-Liverpool star.

The 33-year-old, who left Old Trafford upon the expiry of his contract at the end of last season, played alongside Varane for two years.

Despite featuring 23 times for the Red Devils in the Premier League, Eriksen was accused of not suiting Ruben Amorim’s style and was ultimately released alongside Victor Lindelof.

Eriksen is more well-known in English football for his seven-year spell with Tottenham Hotspur – he arrived in North London via Ajax in 2013 as one of the most promising young talents in football.

Liverpool had a long-standing interest in Eriksen and considered reuniting the Dane with Luis Suarez, who, of course, made the switch from the Eredivisie to Anfield on the final day of the January transfer window in 2011.

Now plying his trade with VfL Wolfsburg, the midfielder has suggested that a former Liverpool man and fellow Dane is a better player than Varane.

Christian Eriksen prefers Daniel Agger over Raphael Varane

In an interview with ESPN, Eriksen was asked to name his dream five-a-side team using players he has played alongside throughout his career.

And instead of naming Varane, despite the pair winning two trophies together at Old Trafford, he chose Daniel Agger.

• Goalkeeper: “In goal we’ll go (David) de Gea.”
• Defender: “As a defender, Daniel Agger.”
• Midfielder: “Midfielder, we will go. I have put Moussa Dembele in there.”
• Forwards: “Obviously, when you’ve played with Cristiano (Ronaldo), you probably have to put him in at some point. So it’d be Cristiano and Harry Kane as the strikers.”

Agger, who is the current assistant manager of Denmark, joined the Reds as a 21-year-old in 2006 for a fee of around £6 million – he would go on to make 232 appearances across all competitions at Anfield.

Although the former number five would only manage to win the League Cup across his eight-year spell, Agger developed cult-hero status among the Reds supporters as he was one of the few top-quality players to stand by the club during the tumultuous period of the early 2010s.

He was one of the first ball-playing centre-backs in the Premier League and would often do what made Joel Matip so beloved among the supporters: pick up the ball and drive at the opposition defence.

Micah Richards claimed Agger would be world-class if he were still playing for Liverpool today, as he would often score important goals at Anfield, particularly his strike in the Champions League semi-final in the 1-0 win against Chelsea, which helped secure the Reds’ path to the final.

Daniel Agger deserved to win the Premier League at Liverpool

The defender was involved in two fiercely contested title races during his time at Anfield, first in the 2008/09 campaign and then again in the infamous 2013/14 season.

Liverpool fell four points short of arch-rivals Manchester United in 2009, which remains to this day the last time England’s two most successful clubs competed for the title.

However, Agger’s second attempt was indeed more painful for all Reds supporters as the side fell apart following the 2-0 loss against Chelsea at Anfield in 2014.

Agger scored two crucial goals that season, one to open the scoring in a win against Hull City and the other, an equaliser in a 2-1 win against Newcastle United in May, to narrowly keep the dream alive.

And as the Reds are now competing to win consecutive league titles for the first time since 1984, no one would blame Agger for feeling as though his Liverpool team should have added another in the history books.