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With Steven Gerrard leaving the club this summer, Jordan Henderson's place in Liverpool's future is more important than ever ... but he's just 16 months from potentially being a free agent. Henderson's original contract with the club expires at the end of next season, and that's more than enough reason for Liverpool fans to worry.
You know who isn't worried about it, though? Jordan Henderson.
"We're just really focused on our football," Henderson told Sky Sports on Thursday. "Our agents will sort the other side of things out. Hopefully they can work something out soon, if not then we'll just wait until the end of the season."
Henderson seems to be taking a decidedly relaxed approach to his contract talks, telling his interviewer that contract negotiations "[don't] really affect us as players. It's not really up to us - it's up to the club and the agent to sort something out, and we just focus on what we're meant to do - that's play football." With Henderson's squadmate Raheem Sterling embroiled in contract talks that have proven difficult and could potentially even be described as combative, that lack of on-field impact should hopefully be an important thing to have in play.
Liverpool's Vice Captain In Charge Of Celebratory Hopping has been in fine form again of late after riding out some difficult spells earlier in the season. Especially after Gerrard announced his impending departure and the realization dawned that Henderson would more than likely be the Captain of Liverpool Football Club next season, the midfielder seemed to reach down and find a reserve of energy and quality that he'd been lacking of late, and has used it well in recent matches.
Of course, Henderson would have you think everything's been business as usual. "To be honest I haven't thought about it at all," he responded when asked about the captaincy. "I don't want it to affect what I'm doing for the team.
"It's up to the manager next season to choose who he thinks is right to be captain, but my focus is on helping the team to be successful this season, and that means winning trophies, trying to get into the top four and winning as many games as we can. At the end of the season we'll see where were at."
Henderson isn't wrong, and he's taking a good attitude towards the whole affair. He's also more than earned the faith of club and fans over the last three and a half years since joining Liverpool, and a new contract is the least of what he's earned. Hopefully we're still just seeing the start of a very long and successful career for Henderson at Anfield.
