Jacque Talbot has claimed that Jordan Henderson will see out the rest of his playing career with Liverpool.
Having joined the Reds in 2011, the club captain is the longest-serving player in the current squad (Transfermarkt), with his existing contract taking up to June 2025, the month in which he’ll celebrate his 35th birthday.
Whether he’d perhaps fancy a return to boyhood team Sunderland at that stage remains to be seen, but one reliable journalist reckons the skipper will remain at Anfield until he retires from playing.
Speaking on his YouTube channel, Talbot said: “Henderson won’t go for a while, man. Henderson is going to be at Liverpool until retirement because he’s too much of a dressing room presence.
“You know, the relationships he has there, sometimes that’s important. It’s not just about your ability on the ball.”
Henderson is still only 32 and, as mentioned above, still has more than two years left to run on his contract, so it doesn’t seem likely that he’s thinking too far beyond that point for the moment.
However, what isn’t for debate is that he’s earned the right to remain at Liverpool for as long as he wishes, considering the magnificent service he’s given to the club both on and off the field.
It was he who took on the unenviable task of succeeding Steven Gerrard as captain in 2015 and he’s grown into the role, embracing it with both hands and standing out as an on-pitch leader.
When matches took place behind closed doors during the pandemic, Henderson could often be heard talking his younger teammates through games and bellowing instructions to his fellow Reds (as per LFC on Twitter).
He’s also an inspirational figure away from the field, as evidenced by him contacting his fellow Premier League club captains to organise funds in support of frontline workers during COVID (The Guardian).
Like Talbot rightly says, the 32-year-old is a massive presence in the Anfield dressing room, and let’s hope that’ll continue to be the case for some time yet.
You can view the journalist’s comments on Henderson in the video below from 32:01 (via Jacque Talbot on YouTube):