Jordan Henderson has posted a farewell message to Liverpool fans ahead of his controversial transfer to Al-Ettifaq in Saudi Arabia.
Henderson leaves Liverpool after 12 years, including the last eight as captain, and is set to earn a multi-million pound fortune as a result of a lucrative contract thought to be worth as much as £100,000 per day in the Saudi Pro League.
The transfer has drawn massive criticism, with Henderson taking his career to a country where homosexuality is illegal, despite having previously been a vocal supporter of LGBTQ+ causes.
It more than trebles the £190,000 per week contract he had at Liverpool and is set to make an already extremely rich man vastly more wealthy. The use of ‘life-changing’ in some of the reporting on his new deal in Saudi Arabia has also been heavily criticised amid a cost of living crisis in the UK.
Prior to his farewell message being posted on social media, Henderson had already started training with Al-Ettifaq, managed by ex-Liverpool teammate Steven Gerrard, having travelled to the club’s ongoing summer training camp in Croatia.
“I need to somehow put into words what these last 12 years have meant for me and my family,” was how he began the video, sat in the Anfield dressing room for the ‘last time’.
“It was hard leaving [Sunderland], my home town, my club. But when Liverpool come knocking, you don’t say no. When I see the footage back now, I’m just a kid. Who would ever have imagined that night how the next 12 years would go?” he said.
“I can’t lie, there have been hard times…really hard times. But when I look back at my career at Liverpool, it will always be the good times that I remember.
“Being made captain of Liverpool Football Club was one of the greatest honours of my life. From the day the armband was passed to me, I did everything I could to behave like a Liverpool captain should. But the biggest honours at Liverpool weren’t personal ones, they were collective – all of us [the players], all of you [the fans], together.”
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Henderson went on to say there is ‘no doubt’ that Liverpool fans are the ‘best in the world’ and also declared Anfield to be ‘the most special place in the world to play football’.
Directly addressing supporters, he finished by saying, “Thank you for allowing me to be part of your club, for your support in good times and bad. I will always be a red, until the day I die.”
Henderson played close to 500 games for Liverpool following his 2011 transfer just over a week before his 21st birthday. He went on to captain the Reds to Champions League glory in 2019, as well as lifting the club’s first league title in 30 years in 2020. Domestic cups followed in 2022, while Liverpool played in two further Champions League finals – 2018 and 2022.
