Inside Hendersons Saudi transfer: Gerrards strategy, Klopp home truths, frightening wage

The setting was the Italian restaurant Cibo in Wilmslow, the small Cheshire town so beloved by Premier League footballers.

It was Monday evening and what was initially going to be a meal out for a small gathering of Liverpool players turned into a much larger affair as Jurgen Klopp’s squad gathered to say their emotional goodbyes to Jordan Henderson.

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Earlier in the day, the Liverpool captain had arrived at Manchester Airport’s private terminal to greet staff and team-mates following their return to the UK from a nine-day training camp in Germany.

Henderson, who had left the camp five days earlier after Liverpool agreed an initial fee of £12million ($15.4m) with Saudi Pro League outfit Al Ettifaq, spoke from the heart about his illustrious 12-year Anfield career. He thanked those present for the support they had given to him. He talked about the cherished memories they had shared together and the bond that would live on.

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Two days later, he was sweeping into the Croatian resort of Terme Sveti Martin, close to the Slovenian border, in a black Mercedes, to start a new — and controversial — chapter in his football career. Steven Gerrard, the new manager of the Saudi club, was waiting to greet him.

England 🛬 Saudi Arabia

Welcome to your new home @JHenderson ❤️💚#HendersonEttifaqi pic.twitter.com/2brFblNT6Q

— Ettifaq Club (@Ettifaq_EN) July 27, 2023

It marked the end of a whirlwind three weeks that saw Liverpool’s captain become the highest-profile English player to sign up for the Saudi revolution, leaving behind a sense of shock and, in some quarters, recrimination.

So how did it happen?

To understand how Henderson ended up at Al Ettifaq, it is necessary to rewind to July 4 and Gerrard’s arrival at the same club.

The former Liverpool midfielder had initially turned down the opportunity to manage Al Ettifaq in June after visiting the Saudi city of Dammam and being given a tour of the club’s facilities.

He was keen to get back into management following his sacking by Aston Villa last October but was hoping to land a job closer to home. When Leeds United turned to Daniel Farke after Leicester City had appointed Enzo Maresca, Gerrard reassessed.

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Al Ettifaq were persistent, the financial package on offer was vast and there was the promise of the kind of project which appealed to Gerrard. He duly set about putting his backroom staff together, including coach Tommy Culshaw and head of fitness and conditioning Jordan Milsom — both former Liverpool employees. Liverpool academy analyst Ray Shearwood was also brought on board, along with England Under-20s coach and former Liverpool scholar Ian Foster.

Gerrard then turned to overhaul a squad that had finished in mid-table in the Saudi Pro League in 2022-23. He wanted a leader; someone who could raise standards with his work ethic and professionalism, and set an example to younger players with his determination to improve.

Henderson was that player. Gerrard, who had been his team-mate at the end of his own career on Merseyside, saw him as a serial winner who had at least another three years left at a high level, and a perfect player around whom to mould his project.

There was also the added bonus of Henderson not requiring exhaustive due diligence; ordinarily, Gerrard would pore over scouting reports, video analysis and watch the player live. Having played with Henderson at the end of his Liverpool career and followed him closely ever since, that process was unnecessary.

There was, however, one complication. Gerrard’s history with Liverpool meant that he was conscious of not upsetting his old club and Klopp, who had helped facilitate his brief return to the club as an academy coach in 2017. And what about Henderson’s situation at Liverpool — would he be part of their first-team plans?

The process would need to be managed carefully. Gerrard made signing Henderson his top priority and Liverpool were approached to see if they would be open to selling him. Gerrard was informed that, if a deal could be completed speedily and the price was right, it could be done.

When Henderson reported back to the AXA Training Centre on July 11, he was the butt of some playful jokes from his team-mates during the fitness testing.

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“My God, look at this!” said Andy Robertson as he pointed at his shirtless captain’s ripped physique. “Wow, what a body!” added a beaming Mohamed Salah.

Henderson had embarked on a punishing gym routine during the summer break following England’s June internationals. The 33-year-old had employed the services of former Liverpool physio Matt Konopinski to join him on holiday and had taken up boxing, with his social-media output underlining the extent of his dedication.

Summer h̶o̶l̶i̶d̶a̶y̶ camp 💪🥊 pic.twitter.com/MR6P2khAvX

— Jordan Henderson (@JHenderson) July 6, 2023

This was certainly not the behaviour of someone who felt his career was winding down. Quite the opposite: Henderson knew he would have a fight on his hands following the summer arrival at Liverpool of new midfielders Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai. Having only made 22 Premier League starts for the club last season, he had a point to prove.

Henderson had received a huge offer from Al Ettifaq prior to reporting back. The money was clearly way in excess of what he was earning at Liverpool but much depended on what his role was likely to be in the forthcoming season, something only Klopp could tell him.

The Liverpool manager, who had been made aware of Al Ettifaq’s interest, was frank: Henderson was unlikely to be a regular starter in the Premier League. Talks were amicable, a reflection of the pair’s mutual respect, but they also opened the door for a departure. Henderson, understandably given his achievements at Liverpool, was reluctant to play the role of a backup, seeing himself as a leader on the field as well as off it.

Klopp, meanwhile, had a long-standing policy of not standing in the way of players who were unsettled — as demonstrated in his handling of Philippe Coutinho’s departure to Barcelona in 2017. Provided the deal was right for Liverpool, he would give it his blessing.

Of course, it was not simply a football decision for Henderson: there was also the prospect of asking his wife, Rebecca, and their three young children to decamp thousands of miles. But while he was deliberating, the offer from Al Ettifaq increased to four times his salary at Anfield. As one source, who asked to remain anonymous to protect their relationships, put it: “The money on the table was frightening.”

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Henderson also spoke with Gareth Southgate, wanting to know whether moving to Saudi would effectively mean the end of his England career. Henderson is proud of playing for his country and is keen to feature in next summer’s European Championships. While providing no guarantees about his selection, Southgate made it clear that he would still be in his thoughts, which was reassuring for Henderson.

While things were becoming clearer for Henderson, from a football perspective at least, other issues were muddying the waters.

First, there was Liverpool being subjected to more pre-season disruption as Fabinho was also targeted by Saudis. With the player keen to move, Al Ittihad prepared to meet Liverpool’s asking price of around £40million, meaning the club were facing the prospect of replacing two senior midfielders — having already lost James Milner, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Naby Keita on free transfers earlier in the summer.

Then there was the moral backlash to the news that Henderson was considering moving to Saudi. He had previously been one of the most prominent and outspoken supporters of the LGBTQI+ cause, wearing the rainbow armband as Liverpool captain and reiterating his backing in numerous public appearances, both for his club and country.

The prospect of him moving to Saudi, where homosexuality is illegal, jarred those who had considered him an ally.

“We are appalled and concerned that anyone might consider working for a #sportswashing operation for a regime where women & LGBT+ people are oppressed & that regularly tops the world death sentence table” tweeted Kop Out, an LGBTQI+ Liverpool supporters’ group.

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And yet, by July 14, Henderson’s mind was made up. He verbally agreed to a three-year contract with Al Ettifaq and attention now moved to whether the clubs could agree on a fee.

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The complication was over the clubs’ expectations of the fee. Al Ettifaq — whose negotiations were led by vice-president Hatem Al-Mashal — had originally hoped not to pay any money for a 33-year-old who had become an irregular starter. Liverpool, however, pointed to his 43 appearances last season, the fact that he had started England’s most recent internationals and that he was still a player, and character, of real value to the club.

With concerns over the deal beginning to bubble up, on July 15 Henderson travelled to the German town of Donaueschingen in the Black Forest for a training camp with the rest of his team-mates (Fabinho stayed behind after Al Ittihad finally tabled a £40m bid).

Henderson showed no signs of ostracising himself — he was pictured leading the group cycling to the training pitches, and worked as hard as ever — but there was an uncertain atmosphere not helped by yet another Liverpool player, this time Luis Diaz, becoming subject to more interest from Saudi, this time Al Hilal. In this case, however, Liverpool were adamant there was no chance of a deal, while the player himself was also committed to staying put.

Henderson had two phone calls with Liverpool’s principal owner John W. Henry while the clubs were thrashing out the terms of the transfer, a process that took five days before they finally agreed on an initial fee of £12million plus add-ons.

Henderson was left out of the squad to play Karlsruher in the club’s first pre-season friendly so he could travel back to the UK and while Klopp — addressing the issue for the first time with the media — declined to offer much detail, it became clear that there was only one direction of travel.

“As long as things are not really finally decided, we don’t have to talk about it,” he said. “There will be a moment where we probably have to talk about it, but it’s not now. In the end, all of these decisions are made by me. And because I respect the players a lot, it’s usually (with their) consent. It was in this case, and it is all fine.”

There were suggestions of a late hitch in the deal the following day but, while Henderson never contemplated pulling out of the transfer, he did want to take his time to think about it. He had played regularly last season and was leaving behind the captaincy role which he loved. He was also going to a league that, he was well aware, was until recently underfunded and not rated highly outside Saudi Arabia.

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The paperwork also proved fiendishly complicated — the level of bureaucracy has shocked those involved with the deal — but, finally, Henderson completed his medical in Manchester on July 21 and signed his contract with Al Ettifaq.

Then there were just the formal farewells to be completed. On Monday, Henderson went to Liverpool’s AXA training centre to say his goodbyes to staff and then travelled to Manchester Airport to meet the squad, who were returning home after their 4-4 friendly draw with Greuther Furth. During his speech to the players, Henderson stressed that one of the reasons he was leaving was a desire not to hold the club back, and in the evening, they decamped for a last meal together in Wilmslow.

On Tuesday, Henderson recorded the videos for his and Liverpool’s social media platforms — images of him taking one last walk across the Anfield pitch were leaked on Twitter and the following day he flew to Terme Sveti Martin to do the same for Al Ettifaq before joining in his first training session with his new club.

Shortly after 6pm, he released his farewell message to Liverpool fans, insisting that “being made captain of Liverpool Football Club was one of the greatest honours of my life”.

There is no doubt that Henderson’s arrival is a significant coup for Al Ettifaq, a club who finished seventh in the Saudi Pro League last season and who are outside the gilded group of four clubs recently taken over by the Public Investment Fund, Saudi’s sovereign wealth fund.

Their glee at having persuaded one of the poster boys of English football to swap Merseyside for the Gulf was evident in their own social-media posts on Thursday morning, which portrayed Henderson as a trophy laden superhero, although it was possibly telling that images of him wearing the rainbow armband were presented in black and white.

Henderson is planning to live near other staff members in a residential area of Dammam, the city where Al Ettifaq are based. His new surroundings will be a culture shock. Al Ettifaq’s home crowds averaged around 5,500 last season — around a tenth of what he was used to at Anfield — and Gerrard is aware that there is unlikely to be overnight success, despite the arrival of Henderson and his fellow new signings Moussa Dembele and Jack Hendry.

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Henderson will also have to confront the fact that his exit has left a sour taste for those supporters who feel his behaviour has not lived up to his moral stances on big social issues. On Thursday, the move was criticised by the Liverpool supporters’ board, who said that it had caused “hurt and division”.

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Henderson has yet to comment publicly on those recriminations but will have to do so at some point. His first press engagements are obliged to be with Saudi media, who are hardly likely to quiz him on the finer points of gay rights in the kingdom, but Henderson knows that at some point they will have to be addressed.

The more pointed questions, however, might not come until he is next called into an England squad for the October internationals, assuming he is involved.

For the time being, his attention will turn to the next big date in his diary: August 14, and a potential Saudi Pro League debut against Al Nassr featuring Cristiano Ronaldo, provided that game is not postponed due to Asian Champions League commitments.

Either way, it is a suitably bizarre end to a month which turned Henderson’s life upside down.

Additional material by Simon Hughes.

(Top picture: Jan Kruger/Getty Images; design by Samuel Richardson)

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