Dominic King: If Jordan Henderson moves to Saudi Arabia

Dominic King: If Jordan Henderson moves to Saudi Arabia for a weekly salary of £700,000, it would be a game-changer. It would be remarkable for a league that is not on par with Europe's elite standards to acquire Liverpool's captain.

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This would be the deal that changes everything. This would be the transfer that sends shock waves through every Premier League club and tells them nobody is unobtainable. Jordan Henderson is Liverpool's captain and England's second in command. He's 33, still in outstanding physical shape - take a look at the videos he has posted on his social media channels this summer - and his ability to influence games in beyond question. After the last competitive fixture he played, for England against North Macedonia at Old Trafford on June 19, Gareth Southgate made a point of name-checking the influence Henderson had on setting the tempo for England to win 7-0 and take another step towards Euro 2024.

Here is Henderson’s level: he’s international class, crucial to setting standards in dressing rooms, and has plenty of gas in the tank to compete in the Premier League. He’s not shuffling around at the end of his career, getting five minutes here and there, fighting against the dying of the light.

But Al-Ettifaq believe they can take him from Anfield. They are prepared to offer the kind of sums on a weekly basis that would end up, over the course of a long-term contract, looking like the numbers on an international phone number, with digits going on and on.

It is understood they are ready to potentially quadruple terms that are currently in the region of £190,000 per week. No matter how well financially rewarded someone has been throughout their career, these kinds of terms would turn anyone’s head and make them think long and hard.

There is no guarantee that Henderson will leave Liverpool. His heart is at the club, he’s squeezed every ounce out of himself to chisel a place in Anfield folklore and hold the distinction of being the only man to lead them out in three European Cup finals.

Two summers ago, Paris St Germain and Atletico Madrid, and a couple of other European sides, asked questions about taking him from Merseyside but Jurgen Klopp wouldn’t consider that possibility and made sure his captain stayed.

Things change in football, however, and now we are in situation where Al-Ettifaq, managed by another Anfield giant in Steven Gerrard, are pressing and desperate to make him the standout figure in a rebuild they hope will see them become Saudi’s top club.

And this is what makes the situation so remarkable: this potentially could be a transfer – if it was to happen – that redefines the landscape. For a league that is not anywhere near the standard of Europe’s top divisions to take the active captain of Liverpool would be remarkable.

Henderson is not Cristiano Ronaldo, sulking and preening and desperate for one last hurrah, trying to show that his powers have not waned; he is not Kalidou Koulibaly, whose form is nowhere near the level that made him such an imposing performer for Napoli and Senegal.

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