Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson, tipped to join Saudi club Al-Ettifaq, coached by former team-mate Steven Gerrard, announced he was leaving Liverpool on Wednesday in an Instagram post. “It’s hard to put words to the last twelve years and it’s even harder to say goodbye,” said the England international. I will always be a Red. Until the day I die.”
Henderson, 33, spent twelve seasons at Liverpool. He led his club to the title of champion of England in 2020, a title awaited for thirty years, and won the Champions League in 2019 with the Liverpuldiens.
The midfielder is expected to join his former teammate Steven Gerrard, who arrived on the Al-Ettifaq bench earlier this month, where he would receive a staggering salary estimated at 700,000 pounds per week (816,000 euros) by the English press.
The decision has already been criticized by Liverpool’s LGBT supporters group, Kop Outs, especially as the player has supported this community during his career, including wearing shoelaces in the rainbow colors of the Pride flag during the Euro-2020, where England reached the final. Henderson had also repeatedly spoken out in favor of greater inclusion of members of the LGBT community.
Saudi Arabia, where homosexuality is banned, has been accused of trying to “sportily wash away” its human rights record by luring some of the world’s best players to its national league, such as Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema.