Jordan Henderson will return to the Stadium of Light and Anfield as a Brentford player this season.
The 35-year-old midfielder has signed a two-year deal with Brentford following his departure from Ajax, and is set to face his boyhood club Sunderland in August, when the Bees visit Wearside in the third round of Premier League fixtures.
Henderson had been linked with a potential homecoming this summer, but The Echo understands a return to the North East never progressed beyond early discussions. Now under new head coach Keith Andrews, Brentford moved quickly to secure the veteran's signature following his exit from the Eredivisie.
Speaking about the prospect of facing his two former clubs, Henderson said both Sunderland and Liverpool still hold a special place in his heart. “Yeah, both clubs mean a lot to me,” he said. “I’ve obviously come through at Sunderland and played for them in the first team for a couple of years. So, yeah, owe a lot to them for my development as a player.”
Henderson continued regarding the prospect of playing Liverpool as a Brentford player: “And then Liverpool as well, you know, is a huge part of my life. I was there for 12 years. Incredible club, loved every minute of it. So, I owe a lot to them as well.”
But with his focus now firmly on Brentford and making an impact in the Premier League under new management, Henderson made it clear that there will be no room for sentiment once the whistle blows. “When we’re playing against them, there’s no friends – we know that in football,” he added. “And we’ll be doing everything we can to try and win.”
Henderson has been reunited with former Reds players Caoimhin Kelleher, Sepp van den Berg and Fabio Carvalho at the Gtech Stadium, while he also played against new Bees boss Keith Andrews early in his career.
“I think when I was at Sunderland I might have played against him a few times. He’s another reason I wanted to come,” he added. “Caoimhin isn’t in yet but I’ve spoken to Sepp and Fab a bit, along with the rest of the lads. It’s nice to have a few familiar faces, for sure. They’re great lads that I got on really well with at Liverpool, so that’s been nice for us to settle in.”
What else did Jordan Henderson say after the move?
On Brenford’s atmosphere, Henderson said: “Yeah, the atmosphere here has always been really good. I think twice I've played here, if I'm right. The atmosphere here was always really good, good games, tough games. So, hopefully we can make it tough for the opposition when they come here again this year.”
On his role at Brentford next season: “I think, you know, I've been in football quite a while now. I've learnt a lot of things, good things, bad things. You knou go through different periods of your career and through your life . So, yeah, I try my best to pass on my experiences, especially to the younger players, as much as possible. But at the same time, I still need to perform and do my job on the pitch.
“So, yeah, of course, I think it's a given that when I'm training, when I'm on the pitch, when I'm around, I'll always try and help everybody around us. And like I say, try to pass on them experiences that I've had in my career so far. But even at my age, you still learn a lot every day. You still can improve, you still can get better. So I still want to try and do that all the time.
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“And I'm sure I can do that at this club, which is one of the reasons why I wanted to come. You know, the development of the players that they put into it. And when we had meetings, there were areas that I felt that I could work on and get better on as well. So, yeah, that's music to my ears really, always wanting to improve. And yeah, of course, like I said, I want to try and help as much people around us as possible at the same time.”
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