Jordan Henderson was always one of the good guys, a footballer with a social conscience who spoke out about issues that mattered to him.
As such, he was feted in the media, while rival supporters liked a Liverpool player more than they ordinarily would.
A leader both on and off the pitch, it was the England midfielder who forged the ‘Players Together’ initiative that saw a percentage of Premier League stars’ wages go to the NHS during the pandemic.
Elsewhere, he has been a long-standing supporter of the LGBTQI+ community, proudly wearing rainbow laces and, on occasion, a rainbow captain’s armband.
“In this day and age, that anyone would make another person feel uncomfortable or unwelcome because of their sexuality is mind-blowing. I can’t get my head round it,” he said in 2019, lending his voice and sway to a Stonewall campaign.
Two years ago, Henderson was acclaimed as a ‘Football Ally’ at the LGBT Awards.
All of which makes his decision to join Al Ettifaq this summer for a reported fee of £12m a quite outstanding act of hypocrisy, the club a prominent presence in a country where same-sex sexual acts are deemed illegal with punishments that include flogging, even the death sentence.
Beyond this egregious law, it has been stated by Amnesty International that in recent years executions have risen seven-fold in Saudi Arabia.
What has lured the 33-year-old to the Arabian Peninsula – in doing so rendering his previous, admirable actions and words utterly hollow – is not of course to participate in an emerging league but money, and lots of it.
For putting a legitimate sheen on a country mired in appalling human rights concerns, Henderson is due to be paid £700,000-a-week, a figure that is four times his current salary.
It's a colossal amount, mind-blowing in fact. The player will struggle to get his head around it.
Inevitably, amidst the welter of criticism that has accompanied the Liverpool skipper’s decision to head to the city of Damman, there has also been those seeking to defend him, with two arguments put forward. Let’s then deal with them in turn.
The first of which concerns the player’s age, the implication being that he was going to be surplus to requirements at Anfield in the foreseeable future. This, however, was plainly not the case.
Granted, after sliding down to among the also-rans in the Premier League betting last term, Liverpool have embarked on a comprehensive overhaul of their engine-room, with several comings and goings. Henderson though remained a pivotal figure in his manager’s thinking.
Indeed, Jurgen Klopp is said to be disappointed and surprised by his captain’s imminent departure, the move throwing his summer plans into disarray.
Then naturally, we get to the root of it all. The money.
As players flock to Saudi Arabia, willing to aid its sportswashing enterprise in exchange for personal fortunes the term ‘generational wealth’ has popped up with increasing regularity, an expression designed to highlight the substantial difference those extra few millions can make to a footballer’s bank balance.
These five players are all out of contract in June 2024 - could the top Premier League clubs make a move this summer?@FabrizioRomano on five European stars who may line up for English clubs in the not-so-distant future. https://t.co/8d2fXsDtig
— 888sport (@888sport) July 25, 2023
Instead of ensuring their immediate family is financially secure for life, a couple of years in Saudi means that grandchildren down will forever be minted.
For context regarding this thinking, after a decade-plus of excelling in the Premier League - in 2020 upending the football betting by securing a FWA Footballer of the Year merit - Jordan Henderson has a net worth reputed to be in excess of £23m.
His £190,000 a week is hardly pocket change.
They say you cannot begrudge a player for taking one last big pay-day. In this instance we really can.
*Credit for all of the photos in this article belongs to AP Photo*
