Rumour Mongering: Henderson Agrees Lower Wage to Facilitate Saudi Move

The last Liverpool player to spring a request to depart the club on Jürgen Klopp after pre-season had already begun and in the end to even pay a portion of his transfer fee to get the move pushed through was Philippe Coutinho.

Current Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson could be set to become the next. At least according to transfer chatter out of Saudi Arabia, with reports today claiming Henderson has agreed lower wages so that Al-Ettifaq can meet Liverpool’s fee demands.

Late last Wednesday, news first broke of interest in Henderson from the club managed by former Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard, and by all accounts Saudi interest in Henderson came as a surprise for the Reds.

Along with late-developing interest from Al-Ittihad in Fabinho, Liverpool have suddenly found themselves potentially needing to replace the two veterans in the second week of pre-season as a planned summer rebuild turns into an unexpected demolition job.

Initial reports had Ettifaq offering Henderson a 50% raise on his Liverpool salary but quickly that number was revised to three or four times his wages according to journalists in England who appeared to be being briefed by Henderson’s camp.

However, in the time since, reports from the Saudi end have suggested the salary Henderson is being offered—and could now give up a portion of to facilitate the move—is closer to that 50% raise first reported.

If all of this now is true, it would make the “life-changing opportunity” talk sources close to the player claimed convinced him to move to the 58th-ranked league in the world and sell out his previously stated moral values even more risible.

Whichever way one comes at it, though, if the latest chatter is true and a deal gets pushed through with Henderson’s help on the fee front, it will make for an unexpected and rather sad ending to his time in Red with no chance for an Anfield sendoff.