Former Liverpool captain, Jordan Henderson, has called time on his embarrassing Saudi Arabian career chapter. He might be the first expat to return to Europe, but will he be the last?
Money talks, everyone knows that. Whether you’re a plumber or professional footballer the chance to reap significant financial rewards just for doing your job is too hard to ignore. For this reason, Saudi Arabia’s financial allure proved irresistible to Jordan Henderson and his fellow European expats.
Barely half a season into his excursion into the Gulf state’s footballing world Henderson is returning to Europe. Taxation complications mean a return to England is off the cards with the former Liverpool captain heading to storied Dutch giants, Ajax.
For club and player, it makes sense. Henderson escapes his Saudi problem and Ajax, the Eredivisie’s youngest side, gains experience. For Saudi Arabia, is it cause for concern?
While Henderson is far from the biggest name to chance his hand in Saudi Arabia, his departure doesn’t feel like the exception, it feels like the new rule, the beginning of a wave of European exports leaving Saudi Arabia barely a season after it threatened to disrupt European football’s fabric.
Is this the beginning of the end for football in Saudi Arabia?
It certainly feels that way. Saudi Arabia’s footballing revolution promised everything; disruption, stealing Europe’s biggest stars, upsetting the status quo. So far, it’s delivered very little.
This is exemplified by the dissatisfaction felt by Jordan Henderson. Admittedly not the biggest star to trade Europe for the Gulf, that status belongs to Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema and Neymar, Henderson’s standing within English football was astounding prior to leaving Liverpool.
Yet it’s still significant that Jordan Henderson, a player who torpedoed his astounding reputation in English football by comprising his moral compass and moving to Saudi Arabia, has decided to call it quits and return home.
Especially when considering how the on-field conditions were primed for him to succeed, or at least enjoy his spell in Saudi Arabia. His club, Al-Ettifaq, has a strong Liverpool connection; former captain Steven Gerrard is the head coach while Champions League winning midfielder Gini Wijnaldum plys his trade there.
As far as moving to a different continent goes, Henderson’s had an air of familiarity to it. Of course, cultural differences and other off-field circumstances, including his family living over the border in Bahrain, meant a seamless transition was nearly impossible.
For Henderson, who spoke to The Athletic after his move about needing a ‘new challenge’, his decision to leave is a damning indictment of the state of Saudi Arabia’s footballing project, particularly the competitiveness of the league.
Sure, money is satisfying but evidently it cannot mask an uncompetitive climate where match attendance is on par with the A-League and the footballing level isn’t much better.
If a player of Henderson’s technical stature is unable to manage these footballing conditions, it’s feasible that other, more skilled players, are likely to be in a similar boat of dissatisfaction and frustration now, or those who’ve yet to make a Saudi Arabian move will be increasingly sceptical to do so.
Is Jordan Henderson’s departure a sliding doors moment for Saudi Arabian football?
When you consider the can of worms his Ajax shift has opened, it’s hard to argue against this being the case. In the handful of days since Henderson’s European return, we’ve seen rumours about Karim Benzema’s unhappiness and imminent scenery change intensify.
Initially reported as unfounded by prominent French outlet L’Equipe, Fabrizio Romano confirmed the situation between the former Real Madrid star and At Ittihad remains ‘tense,’ hinting that the French international has one eye on the exit door.
The Benzema news is far from the most significant ripple Henderson’s departure has caused. Spanish international and current Al Nassar defender, Aymeric Laporte, gave an explosive interview with Spanish media outlet, AS, where he spoke frankly about Saudi Arabian football.
“They haven’t made it easy for us. In fact, there are many players that are dissatisfied. They do look after us but not enough for my liking. That is to say, in Europe, they pay you a good salary, but they take better care of you,” he said.
Not only did Laporte acknowledge the ‘day-to-day life, and that is different,’ but he also stole the words from many football fans’ lips when stating; ‘let’s be honest, many of us have also come here not only for football.’
Naturally, the experiences and beliefs of three players don’t speak for the majority, but they’re still a scathing insight into the Saudi Arabian footballing reality, one that’s the worst possible marketing for a league obsessed with the optics.
With elite footballers craving intense competition in the same way a fish craves water, how can any read Laporte’s comment, note Henderson’s departures or see the Benzema rumours and feel confident in their decision to move to Saudi Arabia?
The Saudi situation reminds many avid observers of what unfolded with the Chinese Super League in the mid-2010s. In June, I wrote how lessons from that time should inspire confidence in European football; another far-off threat arising does not mean its strength won’t be maintained.
Back then, Chinese football attracted the likes of Carlos Tevez, Oscar, Hulk, Yannick Carrasco and Axel Witsel with sums of money larger than certain players stand to make throughout their entire careers.
Of course, they’re far from the same calibre of players who’ve flocked to Saudi Arabia recently, but they’re still incredible footballers, with the premise of their scenery change remaining the same.
My point was, at that time many within European footballing circles expected the Chinese footballing revolution to claw its way into the game, with the large financial sums on offer thought to be enough to attract more and more players at varied stages of their careers. It proved not to be the case.
In theory, the Saudi’s mission, like the Chinese before them, works. Throw enough cash at someone and they’ll do your bidding, willing or otherwise.
Except for a single major oversight; footballers are highly motivated individuals who above almost more than anything want to compete at a high level and cement their legacy. Something difficult to achieve in leagues frowned upon by large portions of the footballing population.
Saudi Arabia, like China before it, cannot offer those competitive conditions, at least at this point in its development. More than likely it will never be able to offer players the quality of football Europe can. Understandably so given how long football in Europe pre-dates the Saudi Pro League, which formed in 1976.
Currently, Oscar is the only elite foreign talent plying his trade in the Chinese Super League. Saudi Arabia still benefits from several high-name stars, like Ronaldo, Sadio Mane, Fabinho and Ruben Neves could all cut it in the European top-flight.
Whether this is the case in a few years remains to be seen. Of course, Saudi Arabia will still attract players, just not of the volume or calibre that was expected when the great migration began in mid-2023.
Henderson has shown that money can attract them, but it won’t keep them. If that is the case, and the competition fails to improve massively in the coming years, what will bring players to Saudi for anything other than an early retirement?
