Former Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson has endured a difficult few months since leaving Liverpool last summer and suffered a new setback with Ajax on Sunday.
Liverpool claimed its first piece of silverware since the 2022 FA Cup final with victory over Chelsea at Wembley on Sunday. On that occasion, it was Jordan Henderson who lifted the trophy but as his former teammates celebrated their latest win, the midfielder was having another afternoon to forget with Ajax.
Henderson joined the Dutch giants in January after his brief ill-fated spell in Saudi Arabia with Al-Ettifaq. The return to European football, just months after leaving Liverpool, was supposed to kickstart Henderson’s campaign and boost his chances of featuring for England this summer.
He is yet to taste victory with Ajax in four outings, although three of those appearances did end in a draw. The 33-year-old took the captain’s armband against NEC Nijmegen earlier this month but after missing the Europa League Conference League win over FK Bodø/Glimt in midweek, Henderson found himself on the bench this weekend.
And despite his side trailing 2-0 to top four challengers AZ Alkmaar, Ajax boss John van’t Schip opted against bringing Henderson on at all. Speaking ahead of the match, he explained his decision, insisting: “That is simply a very important match for us in the battle for fourth place. We know what is at stake, but for now it is important to see which players we will start with.”
Sunday’s defeat means Ajax is now six points adrift of the Champions League places with 11 games to go and facing a real battle to qualify for Europe’s premier competition. Henderson meanwhile will hope to be back in contention for a must-win clash with Utrecht this weekend.
The former Reds captain suggested he left Anfield in the summer as he felt he was no longer wanted and Jürgen Klopp later admitted he couldn’t guarantee him any playing time with several new faces arriving. Dominik Szoboszlai and Alexis Mac Allister have proved to be excellent additions while Wataru Endō turned in arguably his best performance in a red shirt at Wembley.
Henderson will be back on English soil later this month after Ajax was drawn to face Aston Villa in the last 16 of the Europa Conference League. Meanwhile, his ex-teammates go in search of three more trophies to secure an unprecedented quadruple.
Liverpool.com says: Henderson clearly couldn’t accept being a squad player at Anfield and few can blame him, given his standing as captain. But things have not gone to plan since leaving Liverpool. He ultimately should never have gone to Saudi Arabia but the fact his Ajax boss didn’t use him in a must-win game will ring alarm bells.
The midfielder has never been one to give up though and turned his Liverpool career around after being offered a move away by Brendan Rodgers. There is enough talent in there to bounce back from this disappointment and get things back on track.
