Journalist Simon Hughes has shared a great story about a younger Jordan Henderson and the manner in which he backed himself under then Sunderland manager Roy Keane in 2008.
According to Hughes, Henderson stood up to Keane when he and his fellow Sunderland reserve team-mates were getting a bollocking from the famously angry Irishman!
After all, they had just to Gateshead, but Henderson defiantly told Keane he was good enough for the first-team – and Keane gave him a debut the next day.
Hughes takes up the story:
Naturally, none of them were going to say no. But many hesitated. It had been a bad day. The first to nod his head and say yes was Jordan Henderson. Keane gave him his debut the next afternoon. He realised he had to put his faith to the test. And he didn’t let him down. 2/3
— Simon Hughes (@Simon_Hughes__) July 18, 2019
This doesn’t surprise us, as Henderson’s character and self-belief is incredible. He was phenomenal in Europe last term, playing out of his skin in home matches against PSG, Napoli and Barcelona, and doing a sterling job away to Bayern Munich, too.
If anything, his on-field role in our Champions League winning run was underrated – but that won’t matter to the man who got to lift the trophy in Madrid.
Now he’s been there and done it – we think we’ll see an even better version of Hendo in 2019/20.