Jordan Henderson to face new challenges

The story of Jordan Henderson’s rise at Liverpool is pretty incredible.

Considered an expensive flop under Kenny Dalglish, he was relegated to a squad player when Brendan Rodgers arrived, infamously offered in a part exchange deal to Fulham for Clint Dempsey. Often sitting on the bench, he only ever started in the Europa League and League Cup and rarely played in the league. Weaker players would have thrown in the towel immediately and angled for a move away to some mid-table Premier League club, but Jordan is made of stronger stuff.

Henderson decided to fight for his place at Liverpool and force his way back into the team, a tough objective considering his situation at the time combined with the fact that new midfield signing Joe Allen had actually started the season rather well while the rest of the team floundered.

But he plugged away and eventually justified his team selection when Allen was ruled out with injury early in 2013. It was then that he began to prove his worth to Liverpool, in that late run when everything finally seemed to click for Liverpool. His industry and passing quality were indispensable to the team and he played a vital role in that unbeaten run in Spring.

That continued last season as Henderson proved himself to be arguably Liverpool’s most important player. Everyone else had their own role to play, but it was Henderson who brought everything together in attack, linking midfield and the forward line together, constantly pressing to put pressure on the opposition and win back the ball.

He was vital throughout the season; Rodgers dare not let him rest for a single game, as he played every single league game up until his red card against Man City. It was that suspension that really showed everyone just how integral he was to the team’s set up.

I don’t know if there was anything that could have got us a win against Chelsea, but Henderson’s presence would have injected a sense of urgency and purpose into a game where we seemed to be lacking both. We missed him again against Crystal Palace when we again dropped points. I’ll say it now, I think with Henderson in the team we pick up 4 points against Chelsea and Palace, rather than just the solitary one.

But for all of Henderson’s success last season, he was pretty much guaranteed a place. He was clearly the best in his position and Allen was facing the same challenges he was only a season previous. This summer, Rodgers has already snapped up both Adam Lallana and Emre Can. While I imagine Can will mainly compete for Gerrard’s position like Lucas has done, he can play in other areas of midfield and I think Lallana will be fighting for Henderson’s place as well. Of course Lallana can play further up the field, but then he would be gunning for Coutinho’s spot along with new £20m signing Lazar Markovic.

Ultimately, I think Henderson will continue to prove invaluable for Liverpool next season. Now he has to worry about two other players who will be hoping to do the same, but that can only be a good thing for Liverpool.