- Midfielder has left Anfield after 12 years
- Joined Steven Gerrard in the Middle East
- Has won 77 caps for the Three Lions
WHAT HAPPENED? The 33-year-old midfielder has formed part of the mass exodus taking proven talent from Europe over to the Middle East. Despite being a Champions League and Premier League title-winning captain at Anfield, Henderson has decided to link up with ex-Reds skipper Steven Gerrard at Al-Ettifaq. He could now be considered out of sight and mind for England boss Southgate, while competing at a level below that he has grown accustomed to in domestic and continental competition with Liverpool, but he will be given every chance to add to his collection of 77 caps.
WHAT THEY SAID: Southgate told talkSPORT when asked if Henderson is still in his thoughts – with the Three Lions hardly short on midfield options: “I’ve spoken with Jordan this summer, the question he wanted to know was, ‘if I move here, are you going to automatically rule me out?’ We would be stupid to do that, why would we rule any player out just based on where they’re playing? We’ve got to see how they’re playing, what level they’re playing at and how they are physically and everything else. The fact is we’ve got an idea of what that league might look like but we don’t actually know until we start to see the games.
“If you’d said three months ago what that would look like, I’d have had a very different view as to what it’s looking like as more and more players have signed to go there - big name players, not so many players right in the prime of their career, but not players that are past their sell by date. So, I think that whole project is fascinating for where it’s going to head and what that might look like over the next couple of years, but it isn’t the Premier League, we won’t see him playing in Champions League football, which is the easiest assessment for us of the level he’s playing at, and he knows the players he’s competing with. That’s the challenge for all of them.”
THE BIGGER PICTURE: Henderson has faced criticism for heading to the Middle East after previously speaking out against human rights abuses in the region, with Southgate adding when asked why a strong leader headed to Saudi Arabia and whether he has a case to answer back home: “Of course when you’re deciding as a football player what your next move is, there are a lot of things that come into consideration, not least what was the role going to be at Liverpool? Was he going to be playing regularly or not at Liverpool? How long left on the contract? Maybe Liverpool getting a fee like they have for a player of his age is also good business in the long term for them.
“It’s not for me to judge any individual, whether they’re in football or any other industry. I don’t think he’s changing his view on what he believes in, so now we’re in a really complex world where what are we saying - nobody should go to Newcastle (United, who are owned by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund)? Or nobody should go for one of the many companies that the Saudis own in London? We shouldn’t buy oil from the Saudis? I think it’s very complicated. I completely understand the argument of, ‘you’ve supported the LGBT community’, and I can understand why they would have a really strong view on it. He (Henderson) at some point I’m sure is going to need to explain that decision, be interviewed as to what his thinking was, how he feels about it, and in the end everybody has got to be responsible for the decisions they make in their life.”
IN THREE PHOTOS:
WHAT NEXT? Henderson spent 12 memorable years at Liverpool, taking in 492 appearances for the club while helping them to seven major honours and a number of other finals.