‘Outstanding’ player will surely now be on the phone to try and get himself a move to Liverpool

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Things haven’t really worked out for those players shipped out by Liverpool last summer.

The Reds lost plenty of experience, with Fabinho, James Milner, Naby Keita, Jordan Henderson, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Roberto Firmino all departing.

There was understandably a worry that Liverpool would miss the leadership of the likes of Milner and Henderson in particular. But Virgil van Dijk has stepped up impressively to take the captaincy, while Trent Alexander-Arnold is proving to be an excellent deputy.

Meanwhile, Liverpool have collectively bounced back from a terrible 2022/23 season to top the Premier League table heading into 2024. They’re in a good place. The same cannot be said for at least three of last summer’s departures, though. Roberto Firmino is already seemingly looking for a new club, while Werder Bremen are reportedly ‘fed up’ with Keita.

And now, reports today have suggested that Henderson is deeply regretting leaving Anfield, too. Unlike Firmino or Keita, the 33-year-old had the option to stay at Liverpool this season. But having been told that he’d no longer be first-choice, Henderson left for Saudi Arabia.

Since then, the veteran has reportedly struggled to settle and is said to be ‘desperate’ to return to the Premier League [The Daily Mail]. With that in mind, we think we know what Henderson may try next.

Henderson desperate for Saudi exit

If Henderson really does want to come back to the Premier League, then the obvious port of call would be at his old club.

Six months or so on from his departure, you can quite imagine Liverpool’s former captain looking to get himself back in at Anfield.

In some respects, we wouldn’t be totally opposed to such a situation. We were quite happy to see Henderson stay this season. He isn’t the player he was and the Reds have younger, fitter, better options now. But Gareth Southgate called him an ‘outstanding’ during last year’s World Cup and he could still have been an asset.

Given the way things went down in the summer though, there’s surely now no way back for Henderson at Liverpool.

How he left the club will leave a permanent stain on the former Sunderland player’s legacy at Anfield. It shouldn’t have ended the way it did. Bridges felt like they were burned.

More than that though, Liverpool no longer need Henderson at all. Had he stayed this season he could have been useful, definitely. But the Reds have turned things around to such an extent that it would feel like a step backwards to bring the England international into the set-up now.

There’s also the point that it would rather undermine Van Dijk as Liverpool’s new leader. It can’t happen.

Despite all of that though, if Henderson is as unhappy as he is portrayed as being, then we wouldn’t put it past him to give Liverpool a call. In Alexander-Arnold, Andy Robertson and plenty more, he still has good friends within the camp. He can call all he wants though, for us there’s no way back now for Jordan.