Late in the summer transfer window 2012, a short three seasons ago, Liverpool were in the market for a striker and were trying to pick Clint Dempsey off Fulham. The owners told Brendan Rodgers that all they’d give him to spend was £4m, and that wasn’t enough for the Cottagers. The only way Dempsey would walk through the doors at Melwood and into Zaf Iqbal’s soft hands for a medical was if Liverpool sent a player the other way.
At the time, Liverpool’s midfield boasted the likes of Steven Gerrard, the Kop icon’s ‘heir to the throne’ Jonjo Shelvey, ‘world class’ Nuri Sahin, new boy Joe Allen and potential King Kenny Dalglish flop Jordan Henderson.
Rodgers was in the midst of beginning to clear out the deadwood, sending Andy Carroll on loan to West Ham, where he’d make the move permanent a season later.
Henderson was never deadwood but to say he wasn’t expendable at the time is just a mistake. Oh how times have changed.
After Daniel Agger left Liverpool and returned to Denmark for his former club Brondby, there was a vacancy at vice-captain. Martin Skrtel was a natural shout for it, as the longest-serving member behind Steven Gerrard. Mamadou Sakho captained PSG before he turned 20, so he was thought to be a plausible candidate.
On 15 September, 2014, Rodgers named Henderson for the role. “Jordan is someone who represents the best values of what we are all about, as a team and as a club,” Rodgers said.
With Gerrard in and out of the squad at times due to injury, form and rest, Henderson found himself as placeholder for him semi-regularly last year.
In January, when Liverpool played Chelsea in the Capital One Cup semi-final, Diego Costa was up to his normal Diego Costa behaviour. A stamp on Skrtel here, a late challenge on Sterling there, a lot of empty, faux-tough guy “hold me back!” moments. Henderson calmly stood a few inches away from Chelsea’s talisman, stared deep into his soul, down deep where it was thought to found Costa’s brand of crazy that he fabricates as someone you don’t want to step to, and pointed to the tunnel. Costa coward away.
Digging up some of the forums on Liverpoolfc.com from late in the summer transfer window of 2012 was refreshing as most fans saw through this as, you know, not a very good idea. Hell, even myself as an American, thus naturally a Dempsey fan, wasn’t for it. Why dump a young player with potential whom you’ve just spent big money on, for a player who will be average for two years and likely move on after about 40 appearances and eight goals? And that’s floating on the side of optimism.
But, of course, not everybody was against it. According to a user operating under the name ‘DowningStreet’ (who has since been banned, for what it’s worth) wrote: “Please tell me what makes Henderson more than a £4 or £5m player. Has no influence on a football match whatsoever. Jonjo Shelvey who cost 1.7m is infront of him in the pecking order ffs.”
Was he wrong though? Well, yes, as time would tell. But at the time? I suppose it’s the same current argument floating about Lazar Markovic’s head space. Is he good enough? What makes him worth £20m? Both were inconsistent, sometimes coy on the pitch, but they show flashes. Markovic’s saving grace is that he’s not British, thus he’ll get the benefit of the doubt for not automatically being branded overpriced because of his nationality. Henderson didn’t have that. After one season, DowningStreet wasn’t the only fan ready to pull the plug.
At the time, Dempsey was looking a stud at Fulham. He helped inspire a Europa League Final appearance in which he scored an audacious game winner in the semi against Juventus. Yeah, Fulham beating Juventus 4-1. Crazy how that was only five years ago.
Fast forward to today, Jordan Henderson has just been confirmed club captain. The club’s first captain since Gerrard took the armband off Sami Hyypia in 2003. A huge deal. Not to necessarily knock Arsenal as not every club churns out a Steven Gerrard, but it seems they’ve had a new captain every other season. Liverpool have not. And hope to continue that through Henderson.
Rodgers, echoing his words from a year ago, had this to say about his new captain: “Jordan is someone who leads through example – through his actions, attitude and application. He shows total commitment to the game and is a role model professional.”
Clint Dempsey is now at Seattle Sounders getting suspended for two years in the lesser American version of the Capital One Cup for ripping a referee’s notebook up. (For what it’s worth, that grainy video of the pandemonium that ensued at the Mickey Mouse Cup is one of the funniest things ever to occur on a football pitch in America. Dempsey is absolutely out of f—‘s to give. Totally tapped out.)
Dempsey is a star in Major League Soccer. But Brad Jones would be a standard starting keeper in that division. That notebook stunt cost him his captaincy of the United States national team. I suppose Jurgen Klinsmann doesn’t enjoy a good prank.
It all would have made sense, though. American owners chasing an American star. Looking back on it, I’m surprised they didn’t force that move through. Or cough up the extra £2m necessary to push that deal through.
It makes sense on a business level if nothing else. The owners want to build the brand in their country, what better way to do that than to buy the best player from said country? Jersey sales from the states would have improved; Liverpool would have paraded him on some pre-season tour the next season throughout the country.
Dempsey, as the story goes, ended up at Tottenham. Liverpool were interested in the player, thus, naturally, Tottenham were too and picked up the scraps. Dempsey made just 29 appearances scoring seven goals. He then moved to Seattle where he currently stars next to Obafemi Martins, forming one of the best attacks in the country.
The Dempsey for Henderson swap never did happen, thankfully for Liverpool and Henderson. What would he have become at Fulham? We’ll never know, but I don’t believe it’d be where he is today.
Henderson is the player best suited for the armband. I can’t wait to watch him lead Liverpool out against Stoke for the first time as the undoubted leader of the squad. I can’t wait to watch his first tackle, the first time we concede and he’s screaming and rilying up the boys. I can’t wait until he scores his first goal next term grabs and/or kisses the badge as passion is seeping out of his skin.
I’ll be up out of my chair, watching and screaming along with him. When the opposition kicks off and I’m done being impossibly biased to anyone in my area code, I’ll sit back down to the friendly confides of my living room, lean back and be proud that Jordan Henderson is ours.
