Amid the flurry of transfer activity featuring incoming players over the past couple of weeks, one story which has caught a bit of attention was one that didn’t happen — that of a potential return to Wearside for Jordan Henderson.
All the latest reports seem to suggest that after being released from his Ajax contract early, our former academy product is on his way to Brentford. Furthermore, some of the articles suggested that he turned down Sunderland to head south.
This has put out the noses of some Sunderland fans on social media who would’ve loved to see him make a return to the Stadium of Light out of joint. Whether there’s a proportion of the wish that’s driven by sentiment is up for debate, but when arguing the case for bringing him back, you can’t deny that he would bring experience at the highest level.
After leaving Sunderland back in 2011, Henderson was a key player in Liverpool teams which won a huge hall of domestic cups, then the Premier League and Champions League — not to mention his role in the England team for over a decade.
Liverpool v Sunderland - Premier League Photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images
His pedigree is without argument but he’s just turned thirty five and here’s where it becomes more subjective.
Throughout his career, Henderson’s game has been based on a foundation of energy and high work rate, with his ability to close down the opposition effectively making him ideal for Jurgen Klopp’s high-pressing Liverpool teams.
It’s likely that he’d be looking for a two-year deal for what’s likely to be his final contract at the top level, and you’d have to look at the wisdom of giving that to a player who would be hitting thirty seven before it expired.
There’s no guarantee that he could produce the same performance levels since he last played in the Premier League two years ago and then keep it going for the next couple of years, and if he does sign for Brentford, we’ll soon have an answer to that question.
He certainly doesn’t fit into the recruitment model that Kyril Louis-Dreyfus and Kristjaan Speakman brought to Sunderland when they took control of the club — that of bringing in young players who can be developed.
From time to time, we’ve brought in players to add experience to the ranks such as Alan Browne, and Henderson would definitely bring experience by the bucketload.
On top of all this, after the flurry of arrivals, the question is: would we actually need another midfielder?
After making Enzo Le Fée a permanent addition, we’ve also recruited Habib Diarra and Noah Sadiki to sit alongside last season’s regulars Dan Neil and Chris Rigg. In addition, we’ve plenty of squad players like Browne and the returning Nectar Triantis — some of whom may be staying and some may be moving on.
Sheffield United v Sunderland - Sky Bet Championship Play-Off Final Photo by Michael Driver | MI News/NurPhoto via Getty Images
Finally — and it’s entirely subjective of course — but in my opinion, I don’t think we were ‘snubbed’ by Henderson in favour of another club at all.
I base this on the fact that our recruitment team have moved early in the transfer window to it seems, secure all our midfield targets.
When we were last in the Premier League, there were stories of successive Sunderland managers only being able to bring in their fourth, fifth and even sixth choice of players towards the end and even in the final days of the transfer window, while Ellis Short ran the club on a ‘summer budget’.
This time, we’ve looked to bring a large proportion of our targets early and you can bet that Diarra, Sadiki, Chemsdine Talbi and the rest were up there as first or second choice on the list of targets respectively as we looked to strengthen.
If we’d wanted to bring in Henderson as a free agent, I think our recruitment team would’ve got him.