Heir Apparent Henderson Hints That New Reds Deal is Close

After putting contract talks off to one side until the summer, Liverpool vice-captain Jordan Henderson has dropped the biggest hint yet that he’s going to put pen to paper on an extension as soon as the current campaign is over.

“For me playing football is all I’ve ever wanted to do and contracts and stuff can be sorted out by clubs and agents. That’s why we’ve got agents, to sort stuff like this out, along with the club, and hopefully this can get done soon. All I want to do is concentrate on my football and not let this get in the way,” he said. “I love playing football for Liverpool and I want to be there for many years and in terms of my contract I think everybody else will make a big deal of it but for me it’s just letting my agent and the club deal with it and whenever it gets sorted, it gets sorted. All I want to do is my best for club and country.”

Now seen as the heir apparent to outgoing captain Steven Gerrard’s throne, the former Sunderland man has gone from having one foot out the door to wearing the armband on a regular basis and firmly entrenching himself in the Reds first team. Whereas the protracted contract talks of Raheem Sterling — which have also been pushed back until the summer — has left a bad taste in the mouth, both the delay and the negotiations surrounding Henderson’s deal has been seen in an inherently different light with his always humble attitude at the center of it.

“I’ve always thought you’ll go through difficult times in life, really, and certainly in your career. You’ve just got to keep believing and be true to yourself and keep working as hard as you possibly can” he said about his early, not so fruitful days at Anfield. “If you can overcome what everybody else says or thinks about you, if you have belief in yourself, then you can get through that and get through anything. I always felt if I kept working as hard as everyone else and kept improving, I could have an important part to play at Liverpool, even when I first went there. I continue to do that.”