Soccer

Jordan Henderson set to complete Ajax move after agreeing Al-Ettifaq exit

33-year-old former Liverpool midfielder finds way out of his Saudi Arabia nightmare

Jordan Henderson has reached an agreement to leave Saudi Arabian club Al-Ettifaq and could be on his way to Ajax. Photograph: Yasser Bakhsh/Getty Images
Jordan Henderson has reached an agreement to leave Saudi Arabian club Al-Ettifaq and could be on his way to Ajax. Photograph: Yasser Bakhsh/Getty Images
Fabrizio Romano
Sachin Nakrani
Wed Jan 17 2024 - 19:17

Jordan Henderson is set to travel to Amsterdam before the weekend to complete his move to Ajax having reached an agreement to leave Saudi Arabian club Al-Ettifaq, according to reports.

All parties are currently ironing out the final details of the contract that will see the England midfielder join the Dutch giants, who are fifth in the Eredivisie having endured, by their standards, a disastrous season.

Ajax’s plight will not greatly bother Henderson. More than anything the 33-year-old will be relieved to be leaving Saudi Arabia after what has proven to be a controversial and, from a personal point of view, catastrophic move.

Henderson received huge criticism for joining Al-Ettifaq in July following a highly successful 12-year spell at Liverpool given it meant emigrating to a country where homosexuality is illegal and punishable by death. Henderson had previously and publicly positioned himself as a champion of LGBTQ+ rights.

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A large salary, believed to be in the region of £350,000 a week, was clearly his motivation for making the move, yet Henderson went out of his way to deny this was the case in an interview with the Athletic that, from a PR-point of view, could not have gone any worse.

Henderson has also failed to greatly impress at Al-Ettifaq, who are managed by another former Liverpool captain in Steven Gerrard and currently sit eighth in the Saudi Pro League. For league officials, his decision to force a move back to Europe represents a big blow to their ambitions of making Saudi Arabia a leading player in world football.

Meanwhile, Ivan Toney has stated his desire to “play for a top club” and said that could happen this month, comments that represent something of a U-turn by the striker after he expressed a need to “repay” Brentford for standing by him during his eight-month suspension for breaching gambling regulations.

Toney is free to play for Brentford again after his ban, imposed by the Football Association in May after the 27-year-old accepted 232 breaches of the FA’s rules on betting, expired on Wednesday. He is set to be in the team that faces Nottingham Forest on Saturday and, prior to that, expressed his gratitude to the west London club for standing by him during his exile from football.

“Everyone knows Brentford is a family club, they have been nothing but amazing for me,” he said in an interview with Sky Sports last week. “I can’t thank them enough, especially the fans. They were behind me from the first minute. So it’s kind of like I have a lot to repay.”

However, speaking again to Sky Sports, Toney displayed rather less loyalty to his current employers, making clear that he is open to a transfer away from the Gtech Community Stadium during the current transfer window. The England international has been linked with moves to both Arsenal and Chelsea.

“You can never predict when is the right time to move elsewhere,” he said. “It’s obvious I’d like to play for a top club, everybody wants to play for the top clubs, fighting for titles and these kinds of things. So whether it’s this January for a club to come in and pay the right money, who knows? But my main focus is doing what I do on the pitch and let the background work take care of itself.” – Guardian