Jordan Henderson insisted his move to Saudi Arabia was not motivated by money, and sought to appease the LGBTQ+ community by claiming he could be a force for good in the region.
The 33-year-old left Liverpool this summer to join Saudi side Al-Ettifaq in a £13m ($16.3m) deal that has sparked outrage, given the country’s circumstances. Appalling human rights record.
Henderson has previously been a vocal advocate for the LGBTQ+ community – backing the ‘Rainbow Laces’ campaign and championing other anti-discrimination initiatives – but England fan group Three Lions Pride plan to turn their back on the midfielder if he plays against Ukraine or Ukraine. Scotland later this month to protest his move.
He talks to the athleteHenderson defended his decision, saying that the challenge of developing an emerging league under the tutelage of former teammate Steven Gerrard was the reason behind his departure from Liverpool after 12 years.
“All I tried to do was help,” said Henderson. “And when asked for help, I did my best to help. I wore bands, I wore my armband. I talked to people in this community to try and use my profile. To help them.
“That’s all I’ve ever tried to do. I’m not going to sit here and say, ‘Why are they criticizing me?'” I understand that. These are all things I’ve been thinking about, and I care about. When I hear things like, “You turned your back on us,” it hurts. I really care. I have family and friends in the LGBTQ+ community….
“I’m not one of those people who goes home, forgets everything and says, ‘I’m fine, my family is fine, just calm down.’” I think about things a lot. But at the same time, I knew that people can look at it that way, they have a right to their opinion, and they have a right to feel it. All I can say is I apologize, I’m sorry I made them feel that way, but I haven’t changed as a person.
“I am not a politician. I have never been and never wanted to be a politician. I have never tried to change the laws or the rules in England, let alone in another country to which I do not belong.”
“So I’m not saying I’m going there to do it. But what I’m saying is people know what my values are and people who know me know what my values are. And my values don’t change because I’m going to a different country where the laws of the country might be different.
“Now, I see that as a positive. I see it because, who [the Saudi] side, they knew it before signing it. So they knew what my beliefs were. They know the issues and campaigns you’ve done in the past and they haven’t been brought up even once. And not once did they say, “You can do this, you can’t do this.” And I think it’s positive that we’re trying to open up like in Qatar [at the 2022 World Cup]”.
Henderson also denied reports he was being paid £700,000-a-week and claimed he did not feel wanted by Liverpool as they targeted several new signings to revamp their midfield this summer, eventually bringing in Alexis McAllister, Dominic Zuboszlay and Ryan Gravenberch.
When pressed for his advertised fee, Henderson said, “I hope so,” and laughed. No, frankly, the numbers aren’t right. But then again, we had to succeed financially as well. I’m not saying that wasn’t the case, and I’m not saying, ‘Oh, I’m not on good money’ because it’s good money and it was a good deal but it didn’t. The numbers were reported.
“Stevie never mentioned money. All I talked about with Stevie was football and the project. He actually said he didn’t want to get involved in any of the money matters. It was all about what we can do together to achieve something special.” Building a club and building a league….
“People will see this club comes with a lot of money and he’s just gone, ‘Yeah, I’ll go.’ When in reality it wasn’t like that at all. People can believe me or not, but in my life and my career, money has never been a motivator. …
“There were some things that set off alarm bells. I have a very good relationship with him [Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp]. He was very honest with me. I won’t go into the details of the conversation because it’s private, but it put me in a position where I knew I wasn’t going to play as much. I knew there would be new players in my position.
“And if I don’t play, as anyone knows, especially the coach, it can be very difficult for me, especially when I’ve been playing at a club for a long time, I’ve been captain for a long time. When England is a big thing for me.
“We have the next European Championship ahead of us. And then there was a contact from the agreement with the club to see if it was possible for me to go there. And the club’s reaction again was not to say no.”
“At that moment I felt as if my value or desire to stay, with the manager and within the club, might have changed. I knew that time would come at some point. I didn’t think it would be now. And I had to accept that….
“If one of those people said to me, ‘Now we want you to stay’, we wouldn’t have that conversation. And then I have to think about the next step for me in my career. Now, it doesn’t mean that they forced me to leave the club or they were saying they wanted to. I wanted to leave, but at no point did I feel wanted by the club or anyone else.”
