Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson has completed a controversial move to reunite with Steven Gerrard at Saudi Pro League side Al Ettifaq. Al Ettifaq, managed by Liverpool legend Gerrard, are believed to be paying Henderson close to £350,000-a-week on a deal until 2026. Henderson's controversial transfer to Saudi Arabia's Pro League comes with a fee worth around £13m, and brings his 12-year Anfield career to an end. He won seven major trophies in that time.
The 33-year-old sought clarity from Jurgen Klopp over how much game time he would get with the Reds next season, before making his decision to leave.
Liverpool are undergoing a midfield rebuild that is not complete yet. They have added Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai, with strong interest remaining in Romeo Lavia.
Thiago Alcantara has also been targeted by Saudi Arabia, while Liverpool have already given Fabinho the green light to complete a £40m move to Al Ittihad.
After joining the Liverpool squad for their pre-season training camp in Germany, Henderson was left out of the opening friendly against Karlsruher last week and said farewell to his team-mates before returning home to undergo a medical and finalise the move.
Henderson has assessed how significant his on-pitch role would be at Liverpool moving forward, but also how switching to Al Ettifaq could impede his international future ahead of the Euro 2024.
Klopp: Henderson is a Liverpool legend
Having served under Klopp throughout the entirety of the German's eight-year spell at Anfield to date, Henderson was reserved a personal goodbye message from his now former manager.
He paid tribute to what he called a Liverpool "legend" and extended an invitation to return to Anfield for him to receive a fitting farewell.
Klopp said: "We will miss you, you know that, you will miss us, I know that - but it's life. And it's not forever, it's just a goodbye, it's wishing good luck to us and to you.
I said in the beginning when I arrived here that life should be something where we collect stories together, and when you look back now I think you can't avoid a smile, and I feel exactly the same.
"You were the longest-serving skipper, I've always had them - Sebastian Kehl [of Dortmund], seven years, Dimo Wache [of Mainz] seven years and three months, you are seven years and eight or nine months - so you won that race.
I will miss you, I will miss the talks we have, not always the easy talks but I wish you the best of luck. You, Rebecca and the kids, I wish you the best of luck for this journey.
"If nobody told you this yet I will now - you are a legend. People say recently we use that word slightly too often, but I can tell you that in your case it isn't. I hope you find time to come back and we can say goodbye as a club."
