With the Independent, the Guardian and Sky Sports all reporting that Liverpool have either bid or are preparing a bid for Sunderland’s Jordan Henderson, I think it’s safe to say that there is a big possibility that the Reds are interested in the youngster. If it is truly the case, the question as to why we are interested comes to the fore.
The 20 year old can play either in central midfield or as a right winger, and the Reds are said to be competing with Manchester United for the player with Sunderland trying to hold out for an astronomical £20million.
Before we even get to the price, the first question I have is whether we actually need Henderson. Depending on how we play with Andy Carroll and Luis Suarez next season, surely the priority has to be wingers, and ones with pace at that. Henderson can play on the wing, but he isn’t blessed with a great deal of speed, and he will never be a player who will beat opposition defenders to get crosses in. In some respects he would be very similar to the wingers we already have on the books such as Maxi Rodriguez and Dirk Kuyt, who generally cut in field. Do you we really need another player like this?
If he isn’t intended to be played on the wing, rather he is to be bought for his central midfield qualities, then there are just as many questions as to why we are interested. A hard worker with bundles of energy and the ability to pick out a pass, Henderson does have a very good career ahead of him, but I really feel he lacks the flair of a player we truly need in that central midfield position. With Lucas alongside him, the pair would give the Reds a solid base, but I feel there would be a lack of creativity in central areas.
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I totally agree with this. I can perhaps understand wanting to bring in talented youngsters with 10-12 years ahead of them and bags of potential but even the quoted £13 million is far too much. He has acheieved nothing. At least no more than being a regular in a poor Sunderland side. 6-8 million tops would be an acceptable fee for a player like Henderson. I mean we paid a hell of a lot less for Shelvey and they’re probably pretty close in terms of current and potential ability really.
tbf, Henderson looks a far better talent than Shelvey, or any of the other lads in our midfield. He may not be what we desperately need right now, but he would defeinitely be a quality addition to the team/squad
Don’t really agree, think this guy could be an exceptional talent. Really hope it’s right, the King’s just thinking streets ahead of us, just as he did as a player.
Tend to agree with the above. This is a move with the long-term future of the squad in mind. Gerrard isn’t getting any younger, and Henderson looks to be a like for like replacement for THAT position (a box-to-box midfielder) rather than winger or deep lying playmaker. I dare say that Aquilani was bought with that purpose – as that was how he played at Roma – but his continuing injury problems and inability (thus far) to really adjust to the pace of the Premiership has apparently scuttled that plan. Henderson, from all accounts, is one of (if not The) standout English prospect in that position so it makes sense that Liverpool would be looking at him. With Lampard on the way out, Chelsea should be looking at him too, but as they have the forsight of a ferret…they aren’t
I totally agree with Sunderland wanting the £20 million for him but he just wouldnt fit in with the current plans. Been a magnificent season for him but 2 years experience doesnt warrant a £20 million price tag, 10-12 million would be a decent deal for us.
Complety agree! A Lennon, jesus navas, hazard, mata, I would even take Shaun wright-Phillips at a cut price are the types of players we need and I’ve been saying it for years!
I totally agree! Hazard and Mata are in the same price range and would make an immediate impact on the team elevating us and being far more deadly!
Henderson is worth possibly 15 mill at best but is a huge talent.
The only matter with getting him is who are they getting rid of to accomodate him, as i cannot see him on a wing.
It is a strange one with central midfield being packed at the moment and investing in this young prospect when we need to add more established class to the team baffles as much the possible cheap sale of the classy Alberto Aquilani, i hope its just paper or agent hype designed to gettop dollar for the player.
Sorry he is worth every penny of that price and quite a bit more. Of the midfielders available who are young and realistically available there are only two Henderson and McCarthy. Adam is just too slow. Yes he can pass in a quarterback type role but at top level his lack of pace and mobility will and has been found out. Home grown players will attract a bigger price with the home grown rule being implemented with fifa anti premier league rules. If you want Mata you will have to dump the likes of Kuyt Maxi et al. I am not a fan of either but this a long term project and not just splashing money to grab headlines or appease bloggers
I think we need to trust Kenny & Comolli, no doubt it seems a steep price but it shows how highly regarded he is in Sunderland & (if true) LFC opened with a £13Mill bid shows how much they rate him, more often than not Comolli is on point with spotting up & coming talent … I think it shows the ambition of the owners that they are willing to invest in youth. Our squad next year will be alot stronger in depth & quality
marc albrighton is another one we should be looking at
Don’t worry red mate, Jordan is a clever lad. He would rather play every week that sit on the bench waiting until a midfield player got injured. He wants to stay put.
I think Hendo does have speed. Take a look at his goal against Wigan where he came from.
He has energy and can cross and pass very well.
But what he has in his locker is the ability to get goals. This will blossom more in the years to come. But to have a goalscoring box-to-box midfielder is what people will pay for.
sssh stop using cliches.
also the box-to-box midfielder simply doesnt exist anymore.
Why,What has he done to put a 20 million on his head liverpool shoud be out there looking for more experiance players and top quality more on LB RB And another striker Lets get rid of the dead wood now….
Hi there, SAFC fan here. A few points about your article…
Firstly, Henderson’s “proper” position is right-winger, and this is where he’s most dangerous. He’s been played in the middle for SAFC due to our ludicrous list of injuries last season, but he’s a lot less effective there than he is on the wing. See our 3-0 win against against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge early this season for what he’s capable of when he’s played in his correct position.
Secondly, you say he’s lacking in pace and yet it’s one of the qualities that earned him his international debut…
“Henderson has emerged at the top of the list of candidates less than two years after making his Sunderland debut, catching the England manager’s eye this season with his pace, energy and stamina.”
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1320278/Jordan-Henderson-line-England-France.html#ixzz1O8yOHE75
…which says to me that you’re criticising a player that you haven’t seen play very often and certainly haven’t paid much attention to.
Thirdly and finally, this story is highly unlikely to be anything other than the garbage newspapers joining the dots… Liverpool need a right-winger, Henderson is probably the most highly-rated Premiership right-winger not currently playing for a team that’s in Europe next season. The “2+2= …” school of journalism.
Unfortunately for the papers, there’s more to the real equation than that. Not least of which is the fact that Henderson is a born and bred Sunderland fanatic. He loves the club and the area he grew up in.
Add that to the fact that SAFC are openly trying to progress – to better themselves year-upon-year, (which has been working ever since Niall Quinn took over as chairman), and that Steve Bruce already needs to bring in 7 or 8 new players this close season, and it’s starting to become obvious why the idea of him letting a home-grown starlet who has loved the club his entire life and played more games this season than any other SAFC player seems more than a little unlikely.
Dalglish will know this. He’ll know that even if he did manage to bid high enough to tempt the club into parting with him, there’s not much chance Henderson would want to leave, and so there’d be little point targetting him as a potential signing. If the transfer fee you’d have to pay to convince the club to let him go wasn’t going to be astronomical enough, the wages it would take to make him part company with the club of his dreams would be enormous.
£13m is a joke… a sum invented by newspapers.
£20m is certainly closer to the amount it would take, but with inferior players like Andy Carrol being bought from the region for more than £30m, it’s still not going to be enough.
To sum up, you shouldn’t believe everything you read in the media, and it’d probably serve you and your website well if you researched a player properly before doing a story about them. Just a suggestion.
You state that this is all school boy journalism but the actual source of the story is from Sunderland not Liverpool. Henderson is a very good player and one I would like at LFC. There is a question of what his position would be @ Lpool but he does fit the bill of Young, English and very talented. Versatility is a key component which I think Lpool are looking @. I think they are looking @ him as replacement to Gerrard in a few years and bringing him in now gives him a chance to learn direct from the master. Although Spearing & Jonjo have had good seasons, I dont think they are going to be world class, I think Henderson has the potential to be that in a few years.
As much as he’s a Sunderland fan, I think it would be hard for him to turn down LFC or even Utd (who need an overhaul of their midfield). Its an exciting time at LFC and given the chance to work with the likes of Dalglish & Gerrard, there are no better people to learn the game from. This is no disrespect to Sunderland, the club or the fans, but he is more likely to achieve things in the game with lpool than Sunderland.
Thanks for your (inside) assessment of Henderson, it made for interesting reading. I will however have to disagree with you on one point. History has shown that “homegrown lads” don’t show much more loyalty to the club than anyone else, unless that club tends to be on of the top 10 or so in the world. The likes of Terry, Gerrard, Ballack, Raul will be happy to stay the best part of their career at home but it’s because it is Real, Bayern, Liverpool, Chelsea. Like Henderson, Carrol had no greater dream than being a Newcastle # 9 and Rooney ever only wanted to play for Everton…they still came to Liverpool and Manchester on the first train (or helicopter) when the chance presented itself. I’m sure Henderson would make the same choice.
you have to see the ‘moneyball’ strategy behind this bid. nobody else but maybe arsenal are playing moneyball in the EPL. the goal is to acquire as many young 8/10 players for reasonable prices. to find ‘value for money’. Young decent players will retain their transfer value and in 3-4 years liverpool will have a really strong squad without spending man city money. if they buy young talented UK players, they also won’t be as tempted by foreign teams when they hit their peak (Alonso, Mascherano)
Gerrard is 31. Meireles is 27-28. By planning and buying young midfielders like Henderson or McCarthy, they will save money. coaches clearly don’t think Spearing or Shelvey will make it, and are worried in 3 years time Lucas will be our only midfielder
I haven’t really watched Henderson that much but understand he is a talent. I like the fact that Liverpool are being linked with exciting young talent such as Henderson and McCarthy rather than has beens like the last few years.
However I agree that we need to bear in mind where we need to improve. I can see Liverpool bringing in British talent this year as they are less likely to be Hung up on champions league qualification only and will look at Liverpool as a great club with history. There are probably only two to three clubs in England that can pull a talented player away from his home town club (look at Carroll). Those being liverpool, manure and possibly Arsenal. So basically if one of these clubs come knocking, you would excuse a players head to be turned. The opportunity to play regular first team footy v possibly one chance to play for one of the worlds great clubs, its a tough decision to make.
As for Liverpool and Henderson, I can see this being true.
My thoughts are that Liverpool will buy talented youngsters with a couple o years experience at first team level and possibly one or two major signings.
Lb – not sure yet
Wings – Mata or Hazard and Henderson
Cm – McCarthy or Adam
Cf – Wickham
Cb – Dann or Jones
If possible – AM – Honda
if that list of yours is true or close to what we call ambition – then we mare knackered.
Come on everybody if we think just because the way to go is buying so called young potential then we are fooling the club and the fans and the name of liverpool.
There is buying young and thers buying better quality players and thoseabove are not and never will be good enough and we know it.
Its time we spend and i mean spend on better players and that means if we have to pay that little extra to bring in porven international pros.
mata should be got to, so should cissohko and so should ever banega.
Theres navas, there is matuidi there is sakho and hummels for the ceter back.
there is juan vargas and lavezzi, the list is endless, and we can not for once in our time get a summer window right then you can kiss good bye to the feel good factor that king kenny had brought us.
It about winning and we must start winning soon or do you really see reina staying put through yet another year of nothing but 5th or 6th.
DID REINA STAY TO BE IN A DRESSING ROOM WITH ADAM, JARVIS, LASRON, DANN, DOWNING, ENRIUQE WIKHAM ER ,,, NO WAY,
SUAREZ WILL BE GONE AFTER THIS YEAR IF WE DONT MAKE THE CHAMPIONS LEAGUE THAT I KNOW FOR SURE.
ITS TIME TO SPEND OR BECOME A SPENT FORCE.
THATS IT, ITS THAT CLEAR
Im a sunderland fan and tbh the way you described hendo is totally wrong, first of all he is defo best on the wing, second fair enough he isn’t blessed with unreal pace, but the work rate and distance he covers even as a winger is outstanding, and in my opinion in contrast with the 35m you paid to the scum up the road for mandy, 13m is a snatch for an ENGLAND INTERNATIONAL
Hi guys,
You need to do your home work more on our young Jordan. Hendo is quick, very, very quick and covers an average of 12k every football game.
Thanks
JJ
I have watched Henderson over and over again at the SOL and he is typical of the young British players that come through the system.He has absolutely no awareness,positional sense,his first touch is poor at best.He has been allowed to take set pieces and he barely manages to clear the first defender or manage to lift the ball over the wall,If good passing is judged on 5 yards square and backward passes then good luck to Liverpool on that one.On the plus side he can run around like a complete headless chicken for 90 minutes Forest Gump eat your heart out.Colback will hopefully mature into a much better prospect than Hendo.
£13 Million is a joke and cant believe Daglish would be so naive.
Fingers crossed Lol Steeeeeeeeeeeeeeed
Sam
I agree with some of your points, but Mata and Hazard are in the same league as some of the players you mention. However we will not be signing 6 or 7 of those. For starters it will cost a fortune, and secondly the policy of fsg is to buy young up and coming talent not only for today but tomorrow. Lavesi doesn’t represent that policy, neither do some of the other stellar names we have been mentioned with.
You say we will be knackered if we invest in youth? Flanagan, Robinson, Spearing, Kelly, shelvey look excellent prospects to me and have grown with confidence. However I know you can’t make tour team up with them solely, but in and around the squad rather than the likes of poulson will do for me.
If we can bring Mata or Hazard or both in, then our attacking players will look good.
Mata, Hazard, Gerrard, Suarez, Carroll, Meireles, Maxi, Kuyt, Johnson (on the wing) looks like a strong pool of players potentially with another striker as well?
I am sure the mechanics are in place and silently going about their business. Come on new season, I can’t wait.