. There were the people who felt genuinely betrayed by Henderson’s controversial decision to move to the Saudi Pro League, the people who pretended to feel genuinely betrayed on behalf of the people who felt genuinely betrayed by Henderson’s controversial decision to move to the Saudi Pro League and then, well … the people who just don’t like, or were jealous of, Jordan Henderson.
Having endured so much public opprobrium, Henderson must have felt a bit of a plum when he decided to leave Al-Ettifaq for Ajax within six months. He could have pointed out that he was swapping one of the most conservative countries in the world for one of the most liberal, but mercifully elected not to kick that particular hornet’s nest. Since then he has been plugging away in the Dutch top flight, largely forgotten by English fans who never have to wait too long before being confronted by some new example of rank player hypocrisy or doublespeak to be outraged by. Until, that is, footage went viral of a post-match presser in which Henderson became embroiled in a heated debate with Mike Verweij, a Dutch football writer, over whether or not he had spent the final few days of the January transfer window agitating for a move to Monaco.
A quick – although not as quick as we’d like – primer: Ajax find themselves in financial peril, Henderson is their biggest earner and the club’s manager Francesco Farioli is reported to have told the press his skipper was trying to force a move to Monaco. Last Thursday, Henderson played for Ajax in their Bigger Vase win over Galatasaray, but refused to captain the side or join his teammates in their goal celebrations. Following that win, Farioli …
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