Damien Comolli on Jordan Henderson’s rise

Former Liverpool FC Director of Football Damien Comolli says Jordan Henderson displayed leadership qualities 5 years ago when he and former Reds’ boss Kenny Dalglish secured his transfer to Anfield.

Sacked by club owners Fenway Sports Group (FSG) in 2012, just 18 months after taking up his initial role as Director of Football Strategy, Comolli has always claimed that the Henderson transfer was the one that cost him his job. But although the owners and Sir Alex Ferguson didn’t have faith in the youngster, Comolli has always maintained it was obvious to the club’s scouts and coaches that they had a potential star in the making.

Since Comolli won his unfair dismissal against FSG, Henderson has continued to progress. He was promoted from Liverpool vice-captain to captain following Steven Gerrard’s exit and tonight he will skipper England against Slovenia, having previously led the England Under 21s for two years.

Commenting on Henderson’s rise to England captain, Comolli played down his role in the player’s £16m transfer to Anfield: “It was not only my decision to sign Jordan,” said the Frenchman. “Kenny and I played a part in it, but it was some great work from our scouts. Kenny was convinced in his ability, so was I. We convinced the owners to do it and it’s a decision that has worked out really well for Liverpool and England as well.

“We knew he was an outstanding individual who was totally committed to his football and that was very, very important to us at the time.

“His stats were absolutely unbelievable. We were going for a lot of midfield players at the time but what caught my eye was his ability to create quality chances for a player so young. He was only 20 but he wasn’t in a top side yet he was creating chances like the top players in the league.

“Obviously we were delighted to sign him. We pushed the boat out to make it happen. I decided to go over the budget by a million and a half, a bit more actually, after [Sunderland chairman] Nial Quinn told me something. After a derby game against Newcastle, Henderson misplaced a free kick and took a lot of stick for it. Nial said that the week after the game, Jordan took about 300 free kicks to make sure he never did it again. This was a strong sign of leadership and that was worth the little bit more that we paid. I was totally convinced, as was Kenny, that we were doing the right thing at the time for the club.

“One of the reasons I was sacked was because the owners thought that Henderson was a waste of money but I think we paid the right price for a young English player. They are often overvalued but we were happy to pay the price.

“I thought he would be a future captain. I believed it at the time. I never thought about what he might do for the country as we could only control how Jordan was for Liverpool and how we could prepare him to be a leader.

“We thought he had the potential to be a captain for the club one day but we would never have said that because it would have put a young player under pressure.”

Note: The above quotes were taken down quickly by hand. They are not word for word and only key comments are included. They do though give you a general idea of what Comolli had to say.