JORDAN HENDERSON hinted at regrets over his move to Saudi Arabia as he was formally unveiled as an Ajax player today.
The former Liverpool captain quit Saudi Pro League outfit Al-Ettifaq this week less than six months into a lucrative three-year deal.
The 33-year-old has faced fierce criticism over his career choices since last summer and, for the first time, he came close to admitting an error as he was presented at a press conference in Amsterdam.
“In life, if you want to call them regrets or mistakes, you can call them that,” Henderson said at a press conference in Amsterdam. “But, at the same time, they’re only mistakes if you don’t learn from them.
“Looking back, at the time, obviously it was a big decision. It was a decision I felt was right for me and my family at the time, but things happen. Things change quickly in football.
“I had to make another decision, and this is the one I felt was the right decision for me. I felt the opportunity was too big to turn down, playing at this great football club.”
The failure of Henderson’s move to Saudi Arabia has not only negatively affected his reputation but also that of the country’s football league.
Henderson did not criticise the standard of the competition or the lifestyle he has experienced in recent months, but neither did he offer a ringing endorsement to any other players weighing up a switch.
Henderson, who has signed a two-and-a-half year deal at Ajax, said: “I would definitely not sit here and speak badly of the league or the clubs or anything like that. I’ve got full respect for the opportunity that I was given to go there.
“But everyone’s different. You look at people who are there, big players who are there now, who are loving every second of it, staying there for a long period of time. But you might get others that don’t settle or something happens in their private life, whatever it may be, and things change quickly.”
On his decision to leave, he said: “It had nothing to do with anything else other than a football decision. I felt it was a perfect opportunity for me to come to such a huge club.”
Having previously been a strong advocate of LGBT rights, Henderson was widely condemned for moving to Saudi Arabia, where same-sex relationships are illegal.
The huge wages he was reportedly offered also brought criticism he was putting money before morals.
He was booed by England supporters when he returned home to play for the international side last autumn. The midfielder concedes that whole experience has been a bruising one.
“I’m not going to say I haven’t been hurt,” he said. “I understand it, but I do care. People might think I don’t but I actually do care about other people.
“I do think a lot about football and how I treat other people and have respect for other people. So it does hurt, of course, but at the same time I totally respect their opinions and how they view me as a person.”
