26 December 2023 , 07:56
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Chris Sutton maintains that Jordan Henderson "went to Saudi Arabia the money" but will be looking back enviously at Liverpool.
The midfielder opted to call time on his Anfield spell, leaving behind the captain's armband, as he chose to take up a lucrative offer in the Middle East. Henderson joined up with Steven Gerrard at Al-Ettifaq but his former club have by no means missed him.
Jurgen Klopp went on a midfield recruitment drive, adding the likes of Dominik Szoboszlai, Wataru Endo and Alexis Mac Allister. They have helped Liverpool lead a title charge and the Reds are only one point off top spot with Sutton adamant Henderson will be wishing he was in the English top flight.
He told It's All Kicking Off : "Bottom line Jordan Henderson. He'll be looking at Liverpool in their title challenge and be wishing he was still at Anfield. Absolutely no doubt about that. Let's see, you know, let's not have all the I'm buying into the culture and I'm going to give Al-Ettifaq a chance and we're going to try and build a club.
"We know where he'd rather be. We know why he went to Saudi. We've spoken about this many times. He went for the money, but he'll be looking at what's going on this season in the Premier League and dreaming of being there."
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Henderson and Al-Ettifaq are languishing in mid-table - 26 points off the league leaders in Saudi Arabia. Much has also been made of the lack of interest in some games with top flight sides playing matches in front of less than a thousand fans at times.
Jordan Henderson left Liverpool to join Al-Ettifaq in the summer (Getty Images)The ex-Liverpool skipper, who has continued to be picked by England despite leaving Anfield, claimed that his exit was motivated by conversations with Jurgen Klopp. The German suggested that his playing time was set to decrease and Henderson opted for pastures new.
He told the Athletic : "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."