Refreshed and rehabilitated Jordan Henderson rises again after Liverpool ‘breakup’ | OneFootball

There is a wry smile on Jordan Henderson’s face when he says that he was in the right place during his six-month spell in Saudi Arabia. His time at Al-Ettifaq has come to look ill-fated, with Henderson tarnishing a reputation as a hugely admired figure and, when he curtailed it to join Ajax, proving far less lucrative than it seemed it would.

But perhaps the way to view it is as the journey of a jilted man on the rebound. Henderson was mourning what he had lost, the sudden end to his Liverpool career. “It felt like a breakup,” he said, casting his mind back to 2023. Henderson and Jurgen Klopp had been a Champions League and Premier League winning double act of skipper and manager but the German had signalled he was willing to countenance his captain’s departure.

“It was a really tough period when I left Liverpool. I was there for a long time, 12 years. Leaving Liverpool itself was huge and really difficult. It had been my life for so long and then it is just gone like that,” added Henderson, clicking his fingers. “So I struggled for a period after that.”

Thousands of miles away, near the Persian Gulf, Henderson found distance helped block out his past. “I couldn’t watch a lot of games,” he said. “I certainly couldn’t watch Liverpool. I didn’t watch a lot of Premier League stuff then… I probably picked the right place for that, halfway around the world.”

Since then, he has been on the road back, both literally and metaphorically. He returned first to Europe, with Ajax, and now the Premier League, at Brentford. He was restored to the England squad after Thomas Tuchel’s appointment, but if his recall met with incredulity in some quarters, his performances for Brentford have offered explanations to an English audience. There was nothing controversial in Henderson’s presence in Tuchel’s group to face Wales and Latvia.

He feels rehabilitated, renascent. “Over the past couple of years, I have had some tough moments but when you come out the other side, you look back, you think you learn a lot about yourself,” Henderson said.

And if he stopped short of saying that joining Al-Ettifaq, which owed much to his predecessor as Liverpool captain, Steven Gerrard, was a mistake, he hinted it.

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Henderson has impressed since returning to the Premier League with Brentford (Action Images via Reuters)

“In hindsight, maybe I would have made different decisions,” he added. “But at the time that is how I felt and the decision I made was for many different reasons and only I know the reasons and, in the end, I tried to do the right thing. I thought it was best to do it at the time and then best to come back to Europe and play for Ajax which I really enjoyed. It is a really good club, really good people, good players, good teammates, I met an amazing manager and staff in Francesco Farioli.” It was notable that, in conversation as in his career, he pivoted quickly to Ajax.

Now, at an age when others might have looked to wind down their career in a lesser league, Henderson has returned to what he deems the world’s best. He has confounded a few doubters already by performing so well for Brentford. It has been a theme of his career. “I think I’ve used it as fuel throughout my career, really. I suppose it’s part and parcel of who I am. I’ve always had to prove something, somewhere,” he said.

The World Cup was a factor in his return to England. He had travelled to the Euro 2024 final as a fan, hiring a van from Amsterdam after discovering there were no flights. It was no great hardship. “We are not talking about a transit van. It was quite a nice van. It had a bit of room, you could move around,” Henderson said.

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Recalled to the England setup, Henderson feels he has something to prove once again (Martin Rickett/PA)

But it was a sign he would not give up on England. Nor, when Tuchel took over, would England give up on him. Henderson has always been vocal, a big presence around the camp, a friend and mentor to Jude Bellingham. Yet the emphasis on what he could do off the pitch lent itself to suggestions he was some kind of cheerleader. Not so, he argues, “I have shown what I can do for England over the years,” he said.

“I am still playing at a high level. Outside, people can think what they want. The most important people are the manager, the coaching staff and the players. Ask them what they think, if I am a cheerleader when I am here. I don’t think one of the best managers in Europe would be choosing me just to do that.”

And, two years after one German manager left Henderson devastated by letting him leave Liverpool, another seems intent on taking him to the World Cup. And the midfielder who couldn’t even watch the Premier League is now back playing in it.