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Former Reds Director of Football Admits Liverpool Owners 'Slaughtered' Him Over Jordan Henderson Fee

​Former Liverpool director of football Damien Comolli has said that Jordan Henderson's response to fluffing a free kick at Newcastle persuaded him to break the budget and sign the Sunderland youngster.

Henderson's transfer fee was mocked for years after a slow start to his Liverpool career, but the England international has been integral to Liverpool's success under Jurgen Klopp, and is a player of the season contender.

Liverpool paid £16.75m for a 20-year-old Henderson back in 2011, which attracted raised eyebrows at the time as the midfielder had played just two full seasons in the Premier League.

Jordan Henderson

In an interview with ​the Athletic, Comolli revealed it was ​Henderson's impressive 'chances created' statistics that initially caught the attention of the club's scouts, with the Sunderland midfielder rivalling Steven Gerrard in the creativity department.

But it was Henderson's personality and drive that prompted him to part with such a lofty transfer fee. Comolli said: "I had a budget of £15m. I couldn’t go over that. It was very difficult for Kenny [Dalglish] and I to get £15m from the owners for Jordan.

“Sunderland chairman Niall Quinn wanted a lot more than £15m. He said I didn’t realise how good he was, his character and personality. 

"He said the last time they played a derby against ​Newcastle, towards the end of the game Jordan took a free kick and the ball flew into the stands and he got a lot of stick from the Newcastle fans.

“The following week Jordan took 300 free kicks in training because he was so mad with himself. I put the phone down and thought if that’s the type of personality he is then we should do everything we possibly can to get him.

Jordan Henderson

“I went up to £16.75m to the great displeasure of the owners, who absolutely slaughtered me on the phone. I called Kenny and said: ‘You need to help me on this one.’ He said: ‘It’s a great deal, I’ll tell them you did a great deal.’

"Kenny absolutely loved him. When Kenny met him he was blown away by his personality and so was I."

Henderson looks set to cap off a fantastic two years by adding the ​Premier League title to his Champions League crown, with ​Liverpool now just four wins away from being crowned champions.


Source : 90min