At the end of the day, Liverpool bought Jordan Henderson for the long term. Both Kenny Dalglish and Damien Comolli saw something in the 21 year old which made them believe that spending upwards of £20million for the player was a good long term investment. Going by some people’s reactions to Henderson’s performances in the U21 Championships, you would be forgiven for thinking we had just spent a fortune on a complete dud.
Although it is from a small minority, complaining about a player’s performance after watching him for three games in a side managed by Stuart Pearce is not the best way to assess the talents of a player. I think most, like me, will hold judgement at least until the end of next season, to see how Jordan has progressed as a player.
Some of the frustration surrounding the transfer is of course the belief that we overspent, and that the money could have been put to better use on an older, proven foreign talent. Understandably there is a desire for immediate success after the trials and tribulations of the previous ownership, as well as the fact the Reds have gone 20 years without winning the league.
There is an understandable fear that now that we actually do have money, nobody wants to see us waste it on players who are not worthy of their valuation. Overpriced English players has been the theme of many a fan’s argument so far this window, and a few will pounce on the opportunity when things don’t go so well for players such as Henderson.
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its funny everyone is judging him on the England performances….
If player is judged on international level only, then we can consider Rooney as one of the worst strikers in the worlds due to his performances in the world cup…but we all know that he has immense quality.
Judge the player with Liverpool and not with England. KD knows what he is doing 🙂
How long times he needed??? 2 years enough ???
“How long times he “-speak English – If you can’t manage it – don’t bother posting – Moron
go easy man, d guy is a joke though
lol
We spend for 20milion,now he need times to be playing comfortable at clubs.
Are the doubters even Liverpool supporters?
I think we should sell him immediately and buy someone like that Raheem Sterling 🙂
he does need time but like khk says rooney would be the worlds worst player if they are judged on international level. kenny will know what he is doing, £20m is alot but its better to get him now than later
‘alot’ should be two words, like ‘a lot’.
For those kind of clams you can get a guy who has already proven himself on the world stage. Why shouldn’t people expect an immediate impact?
20 million is an awful lot to get a guy where the watchword is “be patient and wait a couple years”. Same can be said with the 35 million they ponied up for Carroll.
Those guys need to deliver in ’11-12 even while they are developing towards their peak years. A 20 million squad player is the last thing Liverpool needs.
He hasn’t even kicked a ball for Liverpool yet!!!
Another totally coment from a clueless “so called supporter”
I’ve watched Liverppool for 55 years man & boy & I’d match KD’s judgement against some of the fools I see posting their inane comments on sites like this.
Well said, ged. These people who think KD was wrong to pay as much as he did for Henderson should have their names posted for future reference so they can see how wrong they were.
Liverpool did not pay 20 million!!!!!!! End of!
Correct!!
Right !
they paid £16 million for him
looks like utd got a far better player for less, its us who need a classy centre half, utd have ferdinand and smalling, im not saying henderson wont be a great success you cant judge him on negative pierce tactics but we needed a phil jones and aq left back before a midfielder.
That would be the Phil Jones who had the choice to sign for either us or United and chose United, right?
All I know is guys like Gerrard and Kuyt need help now if they expect to get anywhere near Champions League football again.
Correct again!!
Agreed.
When are we going to sign a superfast winger or two – until we do we will be crap
What enjoyment do you e-fans get from sh!tting on a 20 year old new signing who has not kicked a ball for us. After the turmoils of the last few years we have gained our soul back. Kenny and Steve are trying to create a team not a splattering of overpaid prima donnas who slap in transfer requests 6 months after joining. Stewart Downing for instance. Premiership ready. Scored something like 10 goals from wide positions last year. Provided many assists. Can cross with either foot and is hungry for success. Yet Liverpool fans slate him as if we’re interested in some clown. Two homegrown Premiership ready players (Henderson and Downing), one wildcard (Wickham) and one world class maverick (Mata or Cazorla) and we can take anyone. Remember we already have Gerrard, Suarez and Carroll who haven’t yet had a chance to play together!
Very well considered comment.
Agreed. Lol ‘e fans’ lol!
calm down
kd building for the future he will also buy a couple of forrign stars before the summer is out. guardiola said liverpool have alot of talent comin through and hed know wouldnt he i believe the futures bright bright red that is .
Some of the kids are really going to do well & they definitely are the way to a very bright red future.
well said sterlings gunna be as good as messi 1 day
Lets all remember John Barnes for England but what was he like playing for us!
@Traquar, how can you say “A 20 million squad player is the last thing Liverpool needs” when for the last two seasons everyone has bemoaned a chronic lack of depth in quality? It’s one of the things we absolutely do need. Our first eleven in the position Henderson players does not need improving – it can match any side in the league and has proven so. But players like Gerrard (31), Meireles (28), Kuyt (31) and Maxi (30) are all aging.
We didn’t pay £20m for Henderson, but for the investment we did make he provides…
Short-Medium Term: Reinforcement of a thin squad, bolstering the centre of midfield and right wing.
Medium-Long Term: An important member of the first team, potentially becoming an established full international.
The rationale is clear. He serves dual purpose and is a signing with foresight. It’s plenty worth our while.
Henderson doesn’t need to become a superstar tomorrow just because of his price, why would he? He isn’t a 26-year-old. There are no rules which say you can only spend £15m+ on a player who will walk into your first eleven and light it up from day one. If there is a reason for the investment, and there absolutely is, then as long as he fulfils the reasons for which we invested in him, he’ll be a great success. Whether he fulfils your pre-conceptions of “what a £20m player should be” is totally irrelevant.
There may be some people who deem the investment unnecessary, or wasteful, but really, if there’s one thing that irritates me the most it is people who draw conclusions from seeing only a small part of the whole picture. This is one signing. If possible, we are likely to make 5-7 more additions to the squad. Only then can you judge our business, our intentions and vision, in the context of the finished squad. If we end up not signing a left back then for sure, bleat all you want about spunking money on Henderson.
Oh, and anyone who judges a player on Under-21 games does not entirely understand football. Any player, always, is at the service of his team. Thus you must take into context the other components of the team, those around him – his team mates – and the orchestrator of the team – the manager. In case of the latter, that is a massive aspect. You only need to look at the transformation of many players when Kenny took over in January to see the significance of the manager. You also have to take into account the unique psychology of international football. The names of far higher profile players who have floundered on this stage are countless; likewise, players who have flourished and then sequentially flattered to deceive at club are also common. This is football. The only thing that matters for Henderson are his performances in the red shirt of Liverpool Football Club.
There are no quick fixes in life, lets not expect it in football. I doubt if TRUE liverpool supporters would like us to splash the cash like city (like there is no tomorrow) and conjure up 11 players without any sense of belonging or loyalty, just in it for the money, glory hunters….I doubt if lovers of our club would want that. And that being the case, it does not hurt to have faith in a man who has never let the club down.
Stay true to the values of the club if you are a true RED.
My expectations will be the same for any player that cost that much to procure. He needs to be a linchpin in the midfield this year. No such thing as an 8 figure future investment.
Let’s get certain things right we did not pay anything like £20 million, God only knows what we spent but I don’t believe we paid £20 millionfor Jordan. Next if people want to judge on a few crappy international games I’ll give you 2 examples of how this is misleading. 1994 World Cup and Ireland’s centre back Phil Babb looked amazing we all know how that worked out. Then Robbie Keane the misser of easy chances galore has 50 international goals. I’m sick of people having a go, if you don’t like piddle off and support the scum. Re Stan Howard, strange you have kind of hit a nail on the head they got a player in an area we need to build on but then again have you seen their midfield? Hardly fearsome so we nicked a player they could have done with. Finally for the idiots doubting Jordan at around this point in his career Stevie G had played in 16 games more and scored 6 goals more. He was in a team with better players, so Henderson might become a player fit to lace our captains boots, besides I’d rather trust Kenny he’s done more than you lot could ever dream off
They didn’t spend 8 figures to get Gerrard…..
Future investment? That would be Sterling (600K + incentives).
Spending what they did on Henderson is not a future investment, thats buying a first team player that you expect to produce like a first team player.
Thats like saying Ryan Babel (8 figure 21 y/o signing) was a future investment, and they ended up selling him for 1/2 what they paid for him.
i promis al d henderson douters dat u will b ashmed @ d end of nest season
well said gentle4rnig ..well kind of.
Hahahaha @ronaldo
on d ryan babel comment i agree selling him was a mistake he never gt a proper run of games…..and i must say i think d mun we paid 4 henderson was abit crazy but lets have faith in king kenny he knows lfc tru n tru n wants 2 bring this great club back to were it belongs at d top…after all look at d faith we 1ce had in dat muppet benitez and by god did he bring in sum wasters so let kenny do wat hes doin after all he knows best dats why hes der