- Henderson, 33, made just 19 appearances for Al Etifaq before leaving the club.
- England midfielder struggles in Saudi Arabia and is set to sign for Ajax
- Chris Sutton: Don’t wait!Sir Jim Ratcliffe must fire Eric ten Barbara now – it all started
Nineteen games. Jordan Henderson’s exciting new adventure in Saudi Arabia lasted just that long.
For half the season, he played in 17 games in the Pro League and 2 games in the King’s Cup, providing 5 assists and only 6 wins.
The England midfielder described his £12m move from Liverpool to Al Etifaq last summer to sign Anfield icon Steven Gerrard as “the professional league being one of the best leagues in the world”. He excitedly said that it was a brilliant opportunity for him to grow into a new player.
Six months later, having literally had his first opportunity and having used up a lot of reputational capital, Henderson is rushing back from a £350,000-a-week football journey to a more familiar one.
The 33-year-old is set to end his three-year contract with Al Etifaq and return to Europe with Ajax, with significant personal expenses as he will have to pay millions in taxes.
The Dutch giants are undoubtedly going through a difficult period – they are fifth in the Eredivisie and headed to the Europa Conference League with interim manager Jon Van’t Schip – but the Middle East It’s obviously better than having to struggle with it.
Henderson will cement his place in England’s Euro 2024 squad by playing in standard European leagues and will take several months to move closer to home.
I wonder when Henderson realized that the reality in Saudi Arabia was not quite living up to the summer sales pitch.
Mail Sport’s Mike Keegan wrote in a special report last week about how Henderson and his family live in the more liberal Bahrain, rather than the city of Dammam, where Al Etifaq play.
The commute to training and home games across the King Fahd Causeway took 55 minutes.
Considering that the same report stated that the partner of a soccer player wearing Western clothing that exposed his arms and legs was hissed and abused by local women while walking through a shopping mall in Saudi Arabia, this is not conservative. The choice to live in a culture that does not exist is perhaps understandable.
As early as November, the first rumors surfaced that Henderson and his family found difficult to resolve.
It may have been Henderson’s first appearance in August, against Cristiano Ronaldo’s Al Nasr – although their star player was absent – and it was played in 30 degree heat, his shirt sweaty. I was drenched in it.
Captain Henderson was substituted near the end, but missed the next game due to “illness”. It was clear that playing in Saudi Arabia would be an unprecedented test of physical strength.
The opening day crowd of just under 13,930 at the Prince Mohammed bin Fahd Stadium may have realized that it was swollen by fans desperate to see Ronaldo, or perhaps Sadio Mane. .
This left the stadium only half full, but when Al Etifaq’s next match against Al Khaleej drew just 4,200 people and their third home match against Damak only 2,281, Henderson He must have noticed that his interest in soccer was not that high.
One away game at Al Riyadh in October was played in front of just 696 people, a disappointing crowd for English football’s sixth tier.
Neymar’s Al Hilal has averaged close to 27,000 spectators this season, while Ronaldo’s Al Nasr has averaged over 20,000, but he points out that there is clearly still not widespread interest. I should probably keep it.
Henderson would also have been aware of the gap between the “Big Four”, owned by the country’s Public Investment Fund, and the rest of the 18-team league.
They are a team with star players and it is no wonder that three of them, Al Hilal, Al Nasr and Al Ahly, are in the top three of the current professional league table.
Gerrard and Henderson Al Etifaq? They are mid-table in 8th place with only 6 wins from 19 games. They are now 28 points behind leaders Al Hilal.
All of this comes as no surprise to Henderson, an exemplary professional who has won the Champions League and Premier League and is used to competing at the top end of the table.
Once the initial excitement of familiarizing yourself with a completely new country and culture wears off, there’s plenty of reason to become disillusioned.
Mr Henderson’s ouster comes six months after the fierce defender of LGBTQ+ rights was heavily criticized for moving to a country where homosexuality is illegal.
The midfielder went above and beyond in supporting Stonewall’s annual Rainbow Race campaign and showing solidarity with the community.
In November 2021, Henderson used a column in the Liverpool Program to explain in strong terms why he was “standing shoulder to shoulder” with those who were being discriminated against.
Mr Henderson, the unofficial leader of Premier League players, encouraged his colleagues to go above and beyond and donate their wages to support the NHS during the coronavirus crisis.
When Henderson was appointed MBE in the 2021 Queen’s Birthday Honors, it was for his “services to football and charity, particularly during the coronavirus pandemic”.
Choosing to move to Saudi Arabia washed away so much goodwill towards Henderson. Henderson’s rainbow captain armband, which he proudly wore at Liverpool, was black and white when Al Etifaq published a video on social media.
In an interview with The Athletic in September, Henderson apologized for the hurt and tried to explain how he believes he can be an agent of change in Saudi Arabia.
“To everyone in the LGBTQ+ community, I understand your frustration. I understand your anger, I understand it,” he said.
“When I made the decision, how I tried to look at it was, by not going, can we all bury our heads in the sand and criticize different cultures and different countries from afar? It felt like.
“But then nothing will happen. Nothing will change.
“I think people knew my views and values before I left and they still know my views and values. And having someone with those views and values in Saudi Arabia can only be a positive thing. I do not think.”
It’s hard to know what effect that backlash had on Henderson. Henderson must have known that his beliefs alone wouldn’t actually change anything.
That may have stung when England fans booed him during the games against Australia and Malta at Wembley late last year.
So I almost left, but then Henderson came back. It’s not quite England, but it’s close enough.
His experience could serve as a lesson for other players worried about Saudi money.