Jordan Henderson has completed a move to Ajax on a two-and-half-year deal, just six months after parting ways with Al Etiffaq.
The 33-year-old player, who had almost 500 games for Liverpool, joined Al-Ettifaq in July and is said to be making up to £700,000 ($887,000) a week.
“We wanted an experienced midfielder with leadership qualities… Jordan Henderson is that type of player,” said Ajax coach John van ‘t Schip in a statement.
“His arrival means a huge enhancement for our squad. Both on and off the pitch, a football player of this calibre is important for our many young players,” he added.
Steven Gerrard coaches the Saudi club Al-Ettifaq. Henderson took over as Liverpool captain from Gerrard in 2015 and is now coaching the club.
Vice Chairman and interim CEO of the SPL, Saad Allazeez, said that the deal was good for everyone and would solve the problem.
“Sometimes despite best efforts people don’t always adjust or settle,” said Allazeez.
“Everyone tried and no one is to blame,” he added.
But Henderson’s move to Saudi Arabia, where being gay is illegal, led to accusations of hypocrisy because he is known to support the LGBT+ community.
Pride in Football, a network of LGBT+ fan groups, said at the time: “When you see someone who has been an ally so publicly transfer to a club in a country where LGBT+ people are attacked and imprisoned, it is disappointing.”
“Good luck in Saudi Arabia Jordan, but you have lost the respect of so many people who valued you and trusted you.”
Thomas Hitzlsperger, a midfielder who used to play for Aston Villa and Stuttgart and came out as gay in 2014, also spoke out against the move.
“I did believe for a while that his support for the community would be genuine. Silly me…” he wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.
He said that the criticism hurt him and said he was sorry if the gay community thought he was ignoring them.
When asked about his well-known views, he said that being in Saudi Arabia “is only a positive thing.”
Reports about his pay were also wrong, and he said that the money wasn’t what drove him.
He instead said that he didn’t feel “wanted” by Liverpool because they had changed their midfield and he was looking for a new challenge.
People often say that Saudi Arabia’s huge spending on sports is “sportswashing,” which means that the country is trying to hide its bad human rights record.
Henderson, who has 81 caps for England, was one of many football stars who were enticed to play in the Saudi league, where players and coaches are paid ridiculously high wages.
Some players, like Karim Benzema of France, Neymar of Brazil, and Sadio Mane of Senegal, have followed Cristiano Ronaldo’s lead and played for Saudi clubs.
People often say that the world’s biggest oil exporter is “sportswashing” its human rights record because it spends so much money on sports events like Formula One in Jeddah and the lucrative LIV Golf Tour.
Man City manager Pep Guardiola has said that the Saudi league has “completely changed the market” for football players, and he thinks that more famous players will move there.
Henderson will help the Dutch team get back on track after having the worst start in their history, which put them at the bottom of the Eredivisie for a short time.
This season has been terrible for Ajax. In December, they lost the cup to an amateur team called Hercules by a score of 3-2.
The hercules loss was called “the greatest debacle in the history of Ajax” by Fabian Nagtzaam, who is in charge of the club’s supporters association. Johan Cruyff, Marco van Basten, and Dennis Bergkamp all played for Ajax.
Ajax has been around since 1900 and has won 36 league titles, 20 KNVB Cups, and four European championships. They are by far the most successful club in the Netherlands.
Maurice Steijn was fired as coach in October because the team had such a bad run of form. van ‘t Schip was then brought in as an interim boss.
Even though they fought back to fifth place, they are still 23 points behind the leaders and bitter rivals PSV Eindhoven.
