Martin Škrtel (Slovak pronunciation: [ˈʃkr̩tɛl]; born 15 December 1984) is a Slovak footballer who plays as a centre back for Liverpool and the Slovakia national football team. He is known affectionately to Liverpool fans as "The Terminator".
Škrtel was born in Handlová and raised in Ráztočno and began playing football at the age of six. Although a competent ice hockey player, he followed his father's career. He is the youngest of three children, with an older brother Dušan and sister Marcela.
Škrtel played as left wing or striker until the age of 16 when he was asked to fill in as a centre-back for the Slovak youth team. He agreed even though he had never played that position before.
Škrtel started his professional career at FK AS Trenčín. He played in 45 games for them between 2001 and 2004.
Škrtel made his debut for Zenit Saint Petersburg in a Russian Cup match on 31 July 2004. He said that the presence of Slovak and Czech players helped him to adjust to the new team. He played 113 times and scored 5 goals for the club.Valencia, Tottenham Hotspur, Everton, and Newcastle United were all reported to be interested in his services, but he ended up signing for Liverpool in the January 2008 transfer window.
Adam David Lallana (born 10 May 1988) is an English footballer who currently plays as an attacking midfielder for Championship club Southampton. Born in St Albans, Lallana began his career with Southampton as a youth player in 2000. He signed professional terms in 2006, and has remained with the club since.
Lallana was born in St Albans but moved to the Iford area of Bournemouth when he was five years old.
Lallana was a member of the Bournemouth Centre of Excellence, where his rich potential was eventually spotted by a talent scout from Southampton, with Lallana snapped up by the then-Premier League club, joining the Saints Academy as a 12-year old in 2000. Southampton paid £3,000 compensation to Bournemouth with further payments of £5,000 and £10,000 when he signed scholarship and professional contracts respectively. The contract with Southampton provides for Bournemouth to receive 25% of any transfer fee, in addition to the payments already made.
Lallana was involved in Southampton's FA Youth Cup squads of 2004–05 and 2005–06, when they reached the final and semi-final respectively.
Daniel Munthe Agger (Danish: [dæˀnjəl ˈɑɡ̊ʌ]; born 12 December 1984) is a Danish footballer who plays as a defender for Liverpool and captains the Denmark national football team. He started his senior career at Danish club Brøndby IF in July 2004, with whom he won the 2005 Danish Superliga championship. The Liverpool fans have created a song for him to the tune of Agadoo.
In July 2004, he was moved from the youth squad to the first team, following the departure of Swedish international defender Andreas Jakobsson. Daniel Agger quickly established himself not only as a first team regular, but as one of the key components in the team that won the 2004–05 Danish Superliga championship. Despite his relative youth, he played with great authority and class under the guidance of Brøndby team captain Per Nielsen, and after the first half of the season Agger was named 2004 "talent of the year" by Spillerforeningen (the Danish equivalent of the English PFA).
After the successful Superliga 2004–05 season, Agger was called up to the senior Danish national football team for the 1–0 friendly win against Finland on 2 June 2005, playing the full match. Agger spent the next national team match on the bench before playing the full 4–1 friendly win on 17 August 2005 over England alongside Per Nielsen, where he caused problems for the English forwards, most notably Wayne Rooney. He played the whole 90 minutes in the next two national team matches, before an injury sustained in the 2005–06 Danish Superliga season in September forced him out for the remainder of 2005. Only 20 years of age, Daniel Agger was awarded the Danish "talent of the year" of all sports on 6 December 2005.