Jordan Henderson has been making headlines this week after giving an interview about his controversial decision to leave Liverpool for a transfer to Al Ettifaq this summer.
The England international spoke to The Athletic about why he was keen on the challenge of moving to Saudi Arabia, and why he still hopes he can be a good ally to the LGBTQ+ community despite the backlash over his decision.
Henderson suggested in the interview that he wouldn’t have been as keen on a move to one of Liverpool’s Premier League rivals, and Fabrizio Romano has given some exclusive insight to CaughtOffside about how the saga unfolded.
Writing in his CaughtOffside column on Substack today, Romano said that the salary offer from Al Ettifaq always made them the favourites to sign Henderson, while it also seems there wasn’t anything concrete emerging for the 33-year-old in England or anywhere else in Europe anyway.
“There was also nothing concrete this summer for Jordan Henderson in Europe, not even from English clubs,” Romano said.
“Speaking in his interview with The Athletic, Henderson suggested he wouldn’t have been as tempted to play for another Premier League club, and also from what I understand Al Ettifaq’s interest came early in the summer, so there was probably not even time to make a move for other clubs.
“They also made a big contract proposal, and no one had the chance to match that salary – Al Ettifaq were always the favourites.”