Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp claims Jordan Henderson was not driven away, but acknowledges he couldn’t promise him playing time and that it was “better he moved on.”
Henderson, 33, stated in an interview during the international break that he did not feel welcomed when he returned from his summer holiday, which is why he chose to join Saudi Arabia’s Al-Ettifaq.
Klopp, on the other hand, stated that there was no “bad blood” between the two.
“Hendo said the truth, in all departments, that’s how it was,” the manager explained.
“We had our talks, and I told Hendo I wanted him to stay, but we had to talk about the possibility of not playing regularly in these conversations.”
“I can’t sit down with a player before the season and tell them they’ll have 50 games at 100% because I don’t know; it all depends on performance.”
“And if Hendo had played, he might have had 50 games, which is entirely possible.”
“But in this particular situation, with the relationship we had, I thought it was important that we speak about everything because I don’t want to wake up one morning and need to lock horns with each other because he thought he’d start and I tell him he isn’t.”
“Obviously, that meant, ‘OK, he doesn’t want me here,’ for Hendo.” I completely get it, but we clarified it.
“If I had told him, ‘Hendo, stay here, you will be the main man in midfield,’ he would have stayed, but as much as I wanted him to stay, I couldn’t, so it was better that Hendo moved on.”
“There isn’t any bad blood or anything.”
