Jordan Henderson leaves Liverpool opened up about his reasons during the summer. The long-serving previous Reds captain left for Saudi Pro League club Al Ettifaq in a transfer which saw him broadly condemned for moving to a nation where homosexuality is illicit, in spite of him already being an candid advocate for LGBTQ+ rights.
The 33-year-old has presently outlined that he felt undesirable by the Anfield progression and feared that he’d battle for game-time under Jurgen Klopp, which in turn incited him to cut his ties with LFC after 12 a long time on Merseyside.
Henderson explained in the interview.
“There were a few things that sent alarm bells ringing. I’ve got a very good relationship with Jurgen. He was very honest with me. I won’t go into detail about the conversation because it’s private, but it put me in a position where I knew that I wasn’t going to be playing as much. I knew there were going to be new players coming in my position. If I’m not playing, as anybody will know, especially the manager, that can be quite difficult for me and especially when I’ve been at a club for so long, I’ve captained the team for so long. Especially when England’s a big thing for me. You’ve got the Euros coming up.”
From Henderson’s viewpoint, it’s reasonable why he thought the time was right to move on from Liverpool on the off chance that he felt underappreciated by senior figures at Anfield.
Typically a man who captained the club amid a wonderful period which yielded victory in each major competition in which the Reds competed but the Europa League, and who composed a finance among Premier League captains to bolster cutting edge NHS workers when the COVID widespread struck in 2020.
He also added.
“Then there was an approach from Al-Ettifaq to the club to see if it would be possible for me to go there. The reaction from the club again wasn’t to say no. At that moment I felt as though my value or the want for me to stay, with the manager and within the club, maybe it had shifted. I knew that time would come at some point. I didn’t think it would be now. And I had to accept that. If one of those people said to me, Now we want you to stay, then we wouldn’t be having this conversation. And I have to then think about what’s next for me in my career. Now, that’s not to say that they forced me out of the club or they were saying they wanted me to leave but at no point did I feel wanted by the club or anyone to stay.”
He moreover had his international status to consider, and having turned 33 in June. It’s very conceivable that Euro 2024 another summer speaks to his final chance to play for Britain at a major competition.
In any case, it’s a gigantic shame that he cleared out. Liverpool so suddenly and appropriately discolored his bequest within the eyes of numerous for his choice of goal. That is given the oppressive laws with respect to homosexuality in Saudi Arabia.
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