Former England international Danny Mills believes that Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson is the answer for the Three Lions in holding midfield.
Over the last two internationals we have seen Tottenham Hotspur’s Harry Winks and West Ham United’s Declan Rice in the role, but Sky Sports pundit Mills feels Henderson is the main man there – unlike the talkSPORT caller who claimed he should play in a creative midfield position for England.
“The age he’s at now, the experience that he has, the authority that he has in the middle there to play that holding role – he can still get forward, of course he can,” he said on talkSPORT [18/11; 06:32]. “If things aren’t quite going well, he can direct the traffic.
“There are better creative players ahead of him. That’s the point. Jordan Henderson is a fabulous player. If you’re gonna play one holding midfield player out and out – it’s not quite his position that he plays at Liverpool – but he would be, I think, the best player to play in that role.”
OPINION
There’s no doubt that Henderson has all the qualities required to operate very effectively as a holding midfield player. Yes, he doesn’t do that job for Liverpool at the moment. Fabinho has made that position his own, allowing the 29-year-old to move further forward into a more all-action role. However, with neither Winks nor Rice perhaps having the same combination of defensive and offensive capabilities as the Reds skipper, perhaps Gareth Southgate will turn to the tried-and-trusted Henderson at the Euros next summer. The statistics show that the former Sunderland man can do the job. As per WhoScored.com, Henderson is averaging 1.6 tackles and 0.9 interceptions per game this season, to go with 78.4% pass success rate and 2.4 longs balls forward per outing. Rice is the better purely-defensive player, while Winks is likely the most accomplished passer, but Henderson combines all those qualities better than both of them.
