Will he be Gerrard’s long term replacement?

New Liverpool signing Jordan Henderson was asked by Liverpoolfc.tv how he feels about being touted as Steven Gerrard’s long term replacement. He replied:

“Steven’s a big player and he has been for many years because he’s one of the best in the world, but I just want to be myself. I don’t want to follow in anyone’s footsteps. I’ll learn from Steven massively because he’s a great player. There’s a lot of other great players here that I’ll learn from but I don’t think I’m following in anyone’s footsteps, especially Steven’s. I’ve got to concentrate on what I want to do and achieve here, and hopefully that can happen.”

With a £16million price tag around his neck, there will be some pressure for Jordan to succeed pretty early on even without this label of being Stevie G’s successor, but at the age of 21, the former Sunderland player should be seen as one for the future in my book.

From what I have seen of Jordan in pre-season so far, I feel he has a bright future ahead of him, he always looks forward when on the ball and can pick a very decent pass when he is afforded the time. Of course, he is by no means the finished article but there are elements to his game that can provide us with a source of optimism.

In the early part of his career, there are going to be inconsistent moments, and Henderson’s form did drop off markedly in the second half of last season for Sunderland, but that wasn’t before he had made a massive impact in the Premier League. The 21 year old created 82 chances for his team mates last season, the fifth most in total among Premier League players. This, considering he dropped his form in the second part of the campaign makes it all the more impressive.

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