Sunderland players celebrate at full-time after beating Sheffield United in their EFL Championship play-off final.
Sunderland players celebrate at full-time after beating Sheffield United in their EFL Championship play-off final.
Ex-Sunderland midfielder Jordan Henderson has delivered a message of joy after watching the Black Cats earn promotion back to the Premier League in Saturday's Championship play-off final.
The 34-year-old, who played 79 games for Sunderland between 2008 and 2011, as an academy graduate, was in attendance at Wembley Stadium alongside over 30,000 of the club's supporters cheering on Regis Le Bris' team against Sheffield United.
For a time, the Yorkshire outfit were in control, although a fightback was sparked in the closing stages and Tom Watson scored the 95th-minute winner at 2-1.
"Boom [explosion emoji]," Henderson wrote on an Instagram story posted almost instantly after the final whistle. His video depicted the Sunderland-occupied section of Wembley in pandemonium.
He then tagged the club's official account, adding a red heart emoji at the end of his message.
Jordan Henderson reacts after Sunderland's play-off final success on social media. (Image: Instagram: @jordanhenderson)
Henderson is remembered fondly on Wearside having embodied local supporters' dream to break through into the senior team.
He collected the club's young player of the season award in consecutive seasons before completing a £20m switch to Liverpool days before his 21st birthday.
The next 12 years were spent at Anfield, becoming captain after Steven Gerrard, and helping Jurgen Klopp's squad win the Premier League after a 30-year hiatus, plus the Champions League and every other major honour available.
In the summer of 2023, he departed for Saudi Arabia, signing for Al-Ettifaq - the team managed by Gerrard at the time - but the move did not work out and for the past 18 months the veteran midfielder has been playing for Ajax in the Netherlands.
There had been a whole drama behind whether he would sign for AS Monaco during the January transfer window, though he stayed put after anger from the stands. Now with the summer window approaching and with a contract expiring in 12 months' time, his future is in fresh limbo.
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