Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson pays tribute to Steven Gerrard

This season marks nine years since Liverpool signed Jordan Henderson from Sunderland. After a rough early spell, the Englishman almost left The Reds for Fulham in 2012 before putting his head down and vowing never to give up.

Almost a decade down the line, he has 359 matches under his belt and five prestigious trophies.

He is also the captain of Liverpool Football Club and has achieved the unthinkable – he has led them to becoming the Champions of England.

After taking over the captaincy from Steven Gerrard in 2015, Henderson told BBC: “The moment I joined this club, I decided I was going to dedicate my life to it.”

Close but no Premier League win

The English team from Merseyside have come close to winning the Premier League a few times since last doing so in 1990.

But no slip-up is as talked about as the 2013/14 season. The Reds only just missed out on the title under Brendan Rodgers, with Luis Suarez up front and Steven Gerrard at the end of his glory days, leading the side out.

The infamous slip against Chelsea had Henderson watching on, at the time still deputy to the Liverpool great.

Rebuilding Liverpool under Klopp

Gerrard’s exit marked the beginning of a very difficult rebuilding period for the club when Jürgen Klopp came in as manager.

Henderson said in an interview with the Liverpool Echo this week that he was “devastated” to have missed out on the league that year.

No Liverpool captain has lifted an English Premiership title since Alan Hansen three decades ago until this year. Even though he is the current skipper, Henderson insists that no one will ever be able to do what Steven Gerrard has done for the club.

He was the on-field orchestrator behind the greatest comeback in European football in Istanbul, 2005, as Liverpool won the European Cup for a fifth time.

Gerrard’s Anfield achievements

Gerrard achieved everything but a league title in his years at the Anfield club.

Manager Klopp dedicated the title to Gerrard and Henderson reiterated how much he means to the club and fans.

“This not only for us as players and the fans but also for players like Stevie who means so much to this football club,” the Liverpool Echo quoted Henderson as saying. “I know how much it would mean to Stevie to win the Premier League title.”

Gerrard said on Instagram this week, when reflecting on handing the captain’s armband over to Henderson, that he “couldn’t have passed it to a better person”.

Henderson will become only the second captain in history to lift both the Premier League and Champions League title after Rio Ferdinand – and he will be the only one to have lifted both trophies within the space of a year.