13 July 2023 , 21:24
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A Liverpool week that began with social media posts celebrating the eight-year anniversary of Jordan Henderson being made captain could be ending with him slipping out of the Kirkby back door.
The Reds skipper was still all smiles on Thursday when he arrived at training alongside Andy Robertson, heading through the front entrance and beaming for the cameras as he made his way into the state-of-the-art AXA Training Centre, a.k.a. the house that John Henry and FSG built.
Or should that be Jurgen Klopp?
Because none of Liverpool's recent success, on the pitch or the balance sheets, would have been possible without the manager after all, even though the manager would be the first to tell you that none of it would be possible without players like Henderson. Especially players like Henderson.
Henderson has been holding talks with Klopp (Liverpool FC via Getty Images)
The Liverpool boss will want to keep his skipper (Liverpool FC via Getty Images)The loyal lieutenant has been the only captain Klopp has ever known at Liverpool. He didn't appoint him, but he certainly would have agreed with Brendan Rodgers' decision to back in 2015 when Steven Gerrard had to be replaced.
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That Klopp and Henderson would now find themselves here, with Gerrard's influence abound again, is something that would scarcely have seemed plausible in the very recent past. You know that football has changed dramatically when a non-European club can get this close to taking the Liverpool captain away at a time when he is still very much needed. He's an England regular too.
And on England, this was Gareth Southgate less than a month ago after the 7-0 win over North Macedonia.
“Our senior players have set a brilliant tone all week. Jordan Henderson, on the pitch tonight, he won’t get the headlines but the way he sets the tone for winning the ball back and running forward, mixing the game up, I think was really important.”
He has been 'really important' for a long time for club and country and, during limited bursts at least, you presumed that was going to continue to be the case, both in the season to come and the major tournament after it.
But when Klopp and Henderson sat down to talk on Thursday, after those first reports had emerged that the 33-year-old was leaning towards accepting the proposal put before him by Al-Ettifaq, there would have been a tacit acceptance of what had brought them both here.
Saudi Arabia's money has, of course, already adversely affected Liverpool's fortunes as it powered Newcastle to a deserved top four finish last season, ensuring that the campaign when the Reds' wheels fell off - one that was always going to come down the road if refreshing the squad wasn't addressed - couldn't be salvaged with a top four finish.
Henderson arriving for training on Thursday
New faces like Dominik Szoboszlai have arrived at the Reds (Liverpool FC via Getty Images)It has meant that this next iteration of Liverpool is starting with them having taken a backward step, their first under Klopp in a full season when he has been their manager. Yet the sense of doom isn't quite there.
What happened was a failure obviously, an outright one, but it is also an ideal position from which to build something new.
Maybe Darwin Nunez will thrive with a few confidence boosting goals in the Europa League group stages? Maybe Ibrahima Konate, Luis Diaz and Diogo Jota will stay fit and actually benefit from last season's enforced rests? Maybe Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai fit in seamlessly? Maybe Pep Guardiola has inadvertently created Trent Alexander-Arnold's ideal position? Maybe A.N. Other will be exactly what's required in midfield?
The captain with two years left on his contract and no guarantee of selection will be seeing that positivity around the place and wondering where he fits in it all. The manager will want him to of course, for reasons that extend beyond the pitch, but he'll also understand the position the club are in.
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Despite Klopp's often playful demeanour - when he's not in a grump about something anyway - he has always approached the task at Liverpool with a sense of realism and humanity. Players are often freely allowed to leave should they wish or, much more regularly, allowed to run down contracts and sometimes outstay their usefulness if not their welcome. Henderson would have seen all this.
At a time of rebuild then, and with no outside investment secured by FSG to boost transfer coffers this summer to atone for the ills of last season - or indeed an outright sale of the club - the prospect of getting one, more or all of the 33-year-old Henderson, the 32-year-old Thiago and the soon to be 30-year-old Fabinho off the books - and for say, what? £80m for the lot? More? What is money any more after all? - simply has to appeal to Klopp and those looking at the overall state of the club.
Henderson's exit would raise money for the Reds (Liverpool FC via Getty Images)That it is money coming from Saudi Arabia is something that football has long since accepted, and something that Henderson will have to square with himself should he make the move to join another Liverpool legend who has already taken the plunge. Two actually. Robbie Fowler is there as well.
Talk of legacies being harmed and cherished memories tarnished will certainly come should Henderson decide to go, but he has largely been placed in this position by Liverpool's need to rebuild, their lack of urgency at doing so and their current place in a sport overrun with state money. They'll always move on and buy new players anyway.
Henderson could just end up being a pawn in the modern game, albeit a fabulously wealthy one.