Mo Salah reached out to Jordan Henderson as Liverpool obtain world-record bid

Sep 05, 2023 at 5:13 PM
Mo Salah reached out to Jordan Henderson as Liverpool obtain world-record bid

Henderson shocked followers when he switched Liverpool for Al-Ettifaq earlier in the summertime. The 33-year-old reunited with Liverpool icon Steven Gerrard, who simply weeks prior had been introduced because the Saudi outfit’s new head coach. 

He was certainly one of a number of high-profile gamers who made an analogous transfer this summer time. The Saudi switch window stays open till Thursday – and Al-Ittihad are reportedly going all-out for Salah. 

Henderson admits that whereas he has not spoken with the ahead about his switch scenario, the pair have exchanged messages about life within the Middle East. Salah might take that on board when making a choice on his future.

“I haven’t spoken to him about the [transfer] situation,” Henderson informed The Athletic. “Obviously I spoke to him briefly over the past week or two in terms of he was asking if I was ok, everything was all right, how I’m settling in, the normal sort of stuff. I’ve sort of left him with this.

“He’ll have everybody ringing him and texting him and things like that. So I’ve sort of left him to… I don’t really know exactly what’s going on. I just see what’s being said in the media in terms of the bids going in and things like that.

“It’ll be interesting to see what happens because he’s an amazing player, an amazing guy and whatever happens, he’ll have a big impact — whether that’s at Liverpool or in the Saudi League, whatever it may be… whether that’s now, in the future or whenever it may be. He’s a fantastic addition to any team.”

Before leaving Liverpool, Henderson tried to influence the Reds to signal Jude Bellingham. The Premier League aspect withdrew their curiosity after realising a deal for the then-Borussia Dortmund starlet would show too costly. 

Bellingham has since joined Real Madrid, scoring 5 occasions in his first 4 outings from midfield. Henderson has struck up a wonderful relationship with the 20-year-old whereas on England obligation. 

Henderson continued: “Maybe not to the owners but you can probably think of certain players that I might have tried for in the past, especially recently! Which looking back now, he’s on fire so (laughing) I might have thought we should have just paid the money!

“But in the end they have a structure, they have a plan and if it doesn’t fall within that then they’re not going to change for it. Because it has a knock-on effect. It’s great to sign these amazing players with loads of wages and it’s amazing for everyone. But in the end you’ll then have different players coming in wanting different money, you’ve got players within saying, ‘Well, I want…’. It causes loads of different issues within.

“They always have a plan, always have a strategy and they know what they’re doing. The most important thing is they care about the club and that’s the biggest thing I would say about them.”