What happened to Jordan Henderson during his first club game back in England last night

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Former Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson was back on English soil last night as his Ajax team took on Aston Villa in the Europa Conference League.

With the scores level at 0-0 from the first-leg, a poor Ajax side were perhaps underdogs against Unai Emery’s Villa.

Unfortunately for Henderson, that tag proved to be accurate. After a tight opening half hour, Villa’s quality eventually told and they ran out easy, 4-0 winners. And according to The Athletic, the scoreline wasn’t the worst thing about Henderson’s evening.

They claim that the former Reds skipper got a frosty reception at Villa Park as he returned to club football in England for the first time since leaving Liverpool.

As well as being booed heartily by the home faithful, Henderson was reportedly subjected to a number of choice songs being sung about him.

All of this didn’t appear to affect the 33-year-old too much. Although his team lost heavily, it’s claimed that Henderson put in a ‘mixed’ display. While said to have clearly lost a yard of pace, the England international is described as having put in an ‘absolutely fine’ performance amid a poor defeat for Ajax.

Henderson makes unhappy return

We’re obviously not sure what kind of reception Henderson would have been expecting back home again, but for us this is not a surprise.

The veteran midfielder had already felt the wrath of English football fans having been booed while playing for the national team last year.

His move to Saudi Arabia last summer rightfully earned him something approaching villain status with the general public. As last night showed, that is going to be difficult for Henderson to shake.

One thing that is worth pointing out is that The Athletic do not especially attribute the reaction towards Henderson as being a direct result of his Saudi transfer.

Instead, it’s suggested that his continued selection for the England national team is what is rubbing people up the wrong way even more.

Indeed, like clockwork, Henderson had been included in Gareth Southgate’s latest squad earlier in the day. Playing for a below-par Ajax team, there’s a feeling that he is certainly not being picked on merit.

Obviously, that he keeps on being selected is not on Henderson. Southgate should be the one taking the brunt for that. But it’s much harder for fans to direct their anger towards someone who isn’t out there on the pitch. There’s not much outlet to do that.

So, Henderson takes the force of it. We’d love to sit here and defend our former captain, but we do understand it. His move last summer was ill-judged and damaging and there’s no way he should still be playing international football. It’s time to let it go.