Jordan Henderson will no doubt go down as a Liverpool legend but he was nearly booted out the door before he’d even made an impact.
After 12 years at Liverpool that included 492 appearances, 33 goals and 57 assists, Henderson has left Anfield for Saudi Arabia.
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Steven Gerrard made the England international his top priority after becoming Al Ettifaq manager and now the ex-Reds star is making £700,000 a week in the Middle East.
As well as playing at Liverpool for 12 years, Henderson also took the captain’s armband off Gerrard in 2015.
He went on to win the Premier League – the club’s first league title in 30 years – as well as the Champions League, FA Cup and Carabao Cup.
But it could have been very different had Brendan Rodgers got his way in the summer of 2012 when he tried to offload the ex-Sunderland ace.
Just a year after making the move from the Stadium of Light, a fresh-faced Henderson was included in a bid to sign Clint Dempsey from Fulham.
Despite signing for £20million in 2011, Rodgers in his first summer in charge was desperate to rid himself of Henderson.
His top target in 2012 was the American, who had just scored 17 Premier League goals the season before as Rodgers looked for more firepower.
However, Henderson told Rodgers he had no intention of moving to Craven Cottage so early into his Reds career and he wanted to fight for his place in the team.
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In an interview with Sky Sports, Henderson said: “We were preparing for a (Europa League qualifying) game against Hearts at Anfield. We met as normal in the hotel and I got a knock on my door saying the manager wanted to speak to us.
“To be fair to Brendan Rodgers, it was really just a conversation. It was an opportunity (to leave for Fulham) I didn’t want and I didn’t like. I still felt I had an awful lot to give.
“But I was in a very dark place at that time. It made us a lot stronger and a lot wiser later on and, without that, you never know what could have happened.
“So I really cherish them moments because you need setbacks, you need adversity. You get back up, and it makes you stronger because you want to prove people wrong. Ever since that day I had something in me.
“I needed to prove to the manager I would get in his team eventually. I’d do absolutely everything to be in his team, this football club, and I’d prove them wrong. In the end, I did.”
Henderson was clearly vindicated in his decision to hang around, going on to become one of Liverpool’s most successful captains.
Dempsey, on the other hand, would still go on to leave Fulham that summer, joining Tottenham instead of Liverpool.
After just one season he then left for the Seattle Sounders in MLS.
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Whether the former United States international would have been a success at Anfield is a question that will never be answered.
However, it would have taken some doing to overtake Henderson’s legacy at Anfield over the following decade.
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