Ex-Liverpool star Daniel Agger is a tattoo artist and even invested in sewers when his career came to an end
DANIEL AGGER became a tattoo artist and invested in sewers after hanging up his boots.
The ex-Liverpool hardman has move on from his days as an Anfield cult hero and has decided to put money into his passion and necessity: tattoos and poo.
The Danish defender, who was managing HB Koge in the second division in his homeland, trained to be a tattoo artist and became involved with one of the biggest parlours across the world, called Tattoodo.
But for Agger his ventures outside the game were not done there - as he took to sewage.
Now 38, the 75-cap international launched a company in 2013 called KloAgger, putting £450,000 into a business that manages sewage systems in his native Denmark.
So how did he come up with the name KloAgger? Well, it translates to 'Agger toilet'.
Agger is regularly involved with the firm but his younger brother Marco and their friend Rune Ruasmussen oversee the day-to-day ongoings.
Inked-up Agger is more interested in the tats.
He started and finished his career at Danish club Brondby, and it was as a 15-year-old youth player that he got his first work done.
"I was about 15 and on a school trip to Paris," Agger said in an interview on Tattoodo's website.
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"It wasn't something I'd thought about before. Me and a friend went into the shop and said that's what we're going to have and we got it. I still have it today."
But it's been added to dramatically, with almost every inch of his body containing a tattoo.
There's the Viking graveyard across his back, the love hearts on his calves, Latin proverbs all over his body and the names of his family members etched in.
"I see it as one piece," the qualified tattooist said. "When I speak to people I talk about my tattoo as one piece but obviously every tattoo has a story, some better than others."
One of the more recent is the 'YNWA' stamped onto his knuckles - the well-known Liverpool acronym for Anfield's anthem You'll Never Walk Alone.
"Timing was quite good," Agger said. "[There were] a lot of rumours sending me to another club for a lot of money but I knew I was staying.
"Somehow I wanted to show that to the footballing world and this was a way I wanted to show it."
Agger did eventually leave Liverpool in 2014 and spent two years back at Brondby before ending his career earlier than expected.
Back problems throughout his career saw Agger rely on painkillers to see him through, but he believes they were his downfall.
"I have taken too many anti-inflammatories in my career,” he told Jyllands-Posten.
"I know that full well, and it sucks, but I did stop it [in the end]. I am not gaining anything personally from saying this but I can only hope that other athletes do.
"It could be that others take a pill or two less.”
Agger's passion for tattooing has somewhat been put on the back burner recently following his venture into management.
The Dane took charge of First Division side HB Koge in March 2021 along with former international team-mate and ex-West Ham star Lars Jacobsen.
Agger guided his troops to a eighth-placed finish last season.
