Jurgen Klopp insists Liverpool will miss Jordan Henderson ‘as a man and a player’ after he completed a controversial move to Saudi Arabia.
Liverpool’s captain has joined Al-Ettifaq in a deal worth £12m plus add-ons and will earn around £700,000-a-week in Saudi Arabia.
Henderson captained Liverpool to the Premier League title and Champions League glory during his 12-year spell at Anfield.
The England midfielder has faced criticism since agreeing to move to Saudi – where same-sex sexual activity is illegal – as a vocal supporter of the LGBTQ+ community.
‘It is football, it is life, it is normal, these kind of things happen,’ Liverpool manager Klopp said.
‘Monday when we arrived back in Liverpool, Hendo was waiting for us to say goodbye properly to the team and to the coaching staff as well, so that was a really nice gesture – a really nice thing to do.
‘I know it was a really, really tough decision for Hendo and I was around or with him all the way.
‘It’s sad, absolutely strange, because he is the only captain I had here at Liverpool, but I think it is exciting for him as well.
‘We will miss him, without a shadow of a doubt, that’s clear – as a man and as a player. But, as I said, that’s football.’
Henderson made 492 appearances for Liverpool following a £20m move from Sunderland in 2011.
The 33-year-old joins Anfield legend Steven Gerrard at Al-Ettifaq following his recent appointment as manager.
Asked about Henderson’s ability as a player, Klopp added: ‘Hendo is a really good package, a really good package. There is the physical part, but there is the super-technical part.
‘He is technically really, really good. Which sometimes players, because of the role they see themselves [in] on the pitch, this fighter and stuff like this, don’t always show.
‘You cannot have this amount of Premier League games, you cannot be captain of Liverpool, you cannot play in the most important games in the world if you are technically not on a super-high level – and he is.
‘Right foot, left foot really good. Tactically he improved the most since we are here, had to play different positions, did that really well. Even played centre-half for us. Had to play No. 6, I thought he played a few outstanding games on six.
‘Let me say, this midfield Fabinho, Hendo, Gini and then Millie, these four for three positions, I think nobody would have said it would be a successful midfield because something is lacking – but nothing was lacking because the boys were all a real package.
‘That’s what was so good and Hendo was a super-important part of that. Some great goals and now after he leaves, we will remember even the goals; there were maybe not exactly as many as there could have been, but some fantastic goals.
‘Top-class professional, top bloke and a really, really, really good player. That’s what you need to be if you want to play that long for Liverpool.’
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