1 year ago
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Photo by Andrew Powell/Liverpool FC via Getty Images
The Liverpool captain is not expected to face Karlsruher due to his potential transfer to Al-Ettifaq.
Jordan Henderson has likely played his last game at Anfield, and it appears now that he has likely played his last game of any sort for Liverpool following news that he is not expected to be in the lineup for their first pre-season friendly today.
With a move to Saudi Arabia’s Al-Ettifaq on the the cards and the clubs currently trying to hammer out a transfer agreement acceptable to Liverpool, Fabrizio Romano—who appears to, perhaps unsurprisingly, have strong Saudi sources—says Henderson will not play.
Henderson joining a mid-table side in the world’s 58th ranked league, one until recently best known for defaulting on player payments—currently there are over 50 active cases against Saudi club, the most in any league—remains a somewhat puzzling decision.
The player will see a raise on his current Liverpool deal, but reports that he could stand to treble or quadruple his wages have been rebuffed and it is believed that taking taxes into account it will be closer to a 50% salary increase for Henderson.
In exchange for that, the 33-year-old will likely be out of the running to represent England at next summer’s Euros as he leaves high level football behind and sells out the LGBTQ+ and other minority communities he previously publicly positioned himself as an ally to.
He’ll also get to team up with former Liverpool captain and disastrous former Aston Villa manager Steven Gerrard. We’d say we wish him the best of luck at a club some have taken to calling Everton of Saudi Arabia but, frankly, that would be a lie.
He is quite obviously free at the end of the day to do whatever it is he feels is best for his career and family. And we’re equally free not to be fans of it and to say as much.
