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Steven Gerrard and Jordan Henderson (Image Source: Twitter)
Jordan Henderson is currently playing for the Saudi Pro League side, Al-Ettifaq after joining them for a reported amount of 12 million pounds ($15.55 million) plus add-ons from Liverpool. The England international played 12 years for the Premier League giants. However, some fans were left surprised by the decision of him making a move to Saudi.
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He joined his former Liverpool teammate, Steven Gerrard as he is the head coach of this Saudi side. Al-Ettifaq are currently in the fifth spot with 10 points in five games in the league. So, now in an exclusive chat with The Athletic, Henderson opened up about this move and the factors that made him take this decision at this stage of his career.
“I know Stevie really wanted me.” - Jordan Henderson
While talking about choosing the Saudi offer, Henderson said: “I’m at the latter stage of my career and I want to be happy playing football. I want to play. I don’t want to be sitting on the bench and coming on for 10 minutes in games. And I knew that would have an effect on my chances of playing for England.”
“I wanted something that would excite me. And that’s not to say those clubs wouldn’t excite me because they are great clubs and they come with really different challenges. But it needed to be something that I felt as though I could add value in and do and try something new — a new challenge and for different reasons,” he further added.
“And this opportunity with Stevie (Gerrard) in a totally different league and totally different culture was something completely different, that maybe it would excite us in terms of the project that was put in front of us, in terms of the league and using my experience to try to help with that in many different areas and feeling that people value. It’s nice to feel wanted. I know Stevie really wanted me. I know the club really wanted me to go and they wanted us to try and build over the next few years — something that is here to stay and be one of the best leagues in the world,” Jordan Henderson concluded.