‘Wow’… Micah Richards left stunned after what BBC journalist has just said about Jordan Henderson

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Micah Richards was not happy with the tone taken during a discussion about former Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson last night.

Henderson is currently amid a humiliating climbdown as he attempts to force through a move back to the Premier League from Saudi Arabia.

The former Reds midfielder has been subjected to plenty of criticism since joining Al Ettifaq from Liverpool last summer. But with things having turned sour for Henderson in the Middle East, he’s seeking a return.

Given the high-profile nature of his transfer last year, it’s been a big talking point over the weekend. And discussing matters on BBC 5 Live’s Monday Night Club yesterday, journalist Rory Smith struck a sarcastic tone, one which Richards wasn’t having.

“He has obviously improved Saudi society and established football in the region so he can come home now. His work there is done,” mused the journalist. “Rory, the sarcasm really isn’t working,” the former Manchester City man hit back. “Wow! What has happened to you?”

“It was such an unnecessary thing to do,” said Smith, sticking to his guns. “Such a strange decision to go, and then Al Ettifaq haven’t won for two months, they’re playing in front of seven thousand in a stadium that holds 30,000 and by all accounts he’s not the only player who went to Saudi in the summer who is not massively enamoured with living in Saudi.”

Richards misses the point

Perhaps Richards is right to come to Henderson’s defence – plenty of others certainly have since his ill-fated move at the start of the season. But we’re with Smith here.

Henderson’s biggest crime possibly wasn’t the act of joining Al Ettifaq itself. He was far from the only player to take the riches on offer in Saudi Arabia, and not even the only English-based one at that.

We didn’t agree with it, but there are lots of people who didn’t have a problem with Henderson moving for the money.

The bigger problem arguably arose when the Liverpool player of 12 years sat down to do an interview with The Athletic in September.

There, Jordan argued that he had indeed moved to Saudi Arabia in order to ‘grow the game’ in the country. Less than four months on, that statement is looking more hollow by the day.

As a result, we think that Henderson is rightfully under scrutiny from journalists such as Smith. If the veteran does come back to England, then he can expect plenty more of the same. In fairness to Smith, he does also concede that Henderson might be of interest to a number of clubs.

“There will be a lot of criticism and abuse if he does come back but there will be a lot of Premier League teams who would take him and who he would improve,” said the reporter.

At this point, it sounds like Henderson would happily take all of that if it meant coming back home. If he does, Richards might not like it, but Liverpool’s former leader is simply going to have to face the music.