Speaking to the press ahead of Liverpool’s Premier League opener away to Norwich City on Saturday, manager Jurgen Klopp expressed strong belief that the situation surrounding the future of captain Jordan Henderson will be ‘sorted’ soon.
“It will happen,” Klopp said. “We will sort it. No doubt about that.”
Liverpool have spent most of this summer working on contract renewals for key players. They’ve completed the work when it comes to right-back Trent Alexander-Arnold, midfielder Fabinho, goalkeeper Alisson Becker, and most recently, centre-back Virgil van Dijk. Reports claim new deals for forwards Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane are in the pipeline as well.
Henderson was also on that list. The experienced midfielder has been of vital importance for everything the club have achieved under Klopp’s command, and the German is obviously determined not to lose his captain any time soon.
However, issues arose during the talks about the new deal, with reports claiming Henderson wasn’t feeling appreciated enough by the club hierarchy and wasn’t convinced about the role they had envisaged for him in the future. These feeling stemmed from the contract that was put on his table and he refused to sign it.
For their part, Liverpool are known to be reluctant to give players over 30 lucrative long-term contracts. The situation preceding the departure of Georginio Wijnaldum this summer was an excellent example of that, with the Dutchman unhappy with the contract on offer and the club unwilling to improve it at the risk of losing him for free.
However, Klopp is obviously confident that a compromise will be reached when it comes to Henderson, who, like Wijnaldum before him, has reportedly been watched carefully by Paris Saint-Germain boss Mauricio Pochettino.
