'Over the past couple of years I've had some tough moments - but now I am here to perform'

With Jordan Henderson, it is always tempting to focus on the rebound relationship, what he did after his departure from Liverpool in the summer of 2023.

- David Hytner

Because goodness knows, if the move to Al-Ettifaq in Saudi Arabia seemed like a bad idea, the reality was even worse.

Henderson's reputation was trashed after he was accused of putting financial gain before his support of LGBTQ+ rights. He was booed on England duty by the Wembley crowd. Even after jumping back to Ajax in January 2024, it felt as if the collateral damage continued. Henderson, who is now at Brentford, was overlooked by Gareth Southgate for his Euro 2024 squad, having been involved throughout qualification. It was the beginning of a long international exile.

"I am not going to lie ... over the past couple of years I have had some tough moments," Henderson says. But according to him, it was not so much what he lived, rather what he left behind that was the struggle. "It felt like a breakup," Henderson says of the end of his 12-year association with Liverpool, a period when he captained them to every top honour and embedded himself in the fabric of the club and city. The way he tells it, there was simply an emptiness.

"I couldn't watch a lot of Premier League games and I certainly couldn't watch Liverpool. I probably picked the right place for that because I was halfway around the world! Because I was at Liverpool for so long and had such an attachment, I found it really difficult when I left.

"If you asked a lot of players when they left a club where they had been for so long - not just Liverpool - I think they'd say it was hard. With time, things change. You move on. But I would say that was probably the most difficult time."