Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp has insisted that he has already made a decision on who his next captain is, after Jordan Henderson’s departure to Saudi Arabia was confirmed this week. Henderson and vice-captain James Milner both left Anfield this summer, as a huge void has been left in the Reds’ dressing room – with one man expected to take up the armband in the pair’s absence.
Henderson spent over a decade on Merseyside and had grown into a big leader in the dressing room, but completed a move to Al Ettifaq to join the exodus of Premier League players to Saudi Arabia that has seen the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, N’Golo Kante and Riyad Mahrez leave for the Middle East.
Virgil van Dijk, who joined Klopp in a press conference ahead of the Reds’ friendly with Leicester in Singapore on Sunday morning, is expected to be named as Henderson’s successor with the likes of Trent Alexander-Arnold, Andy Robertson and Mohamed Salah also part of the leadership group, but the German boss refused to name the new captain in front of the media despite dropping a hint that it would be the influential centre-back.
Klopp said: “I know already my decision but I have to tell the players first. Virgil will start the game tomorrow and he will be captain. I know already my decision but I have to tell the players. I didn’t expect to have that decision a few weeks ago. Nobody has to be the next James Milner or Jordan Henderson. They can just be themselves.”
Van Dijk took the armband in Henderson’s absence for the friendly 4-4 draw with Greuther Furth and explained how proud he was to be chosen as the temporary captain. “On the captaincy nothing has been announced yet so I can’t say much about it,” the defender added. “It’s always a proud moment when I’ve done it previously.”
Henderson controversially completed a move to Saudi Arabian side Al Ettifaq to link up with Reds legend Steven Gerrard, in a move that came as a shock to Klopp. “Was I surprised when Henderson said he wanted to move on? Of course,” he said.
“We had a relationship for eight years. He knew the situation that we wanted to keep him but if he wanted to leave we weren’t going to throw rocks and stones in the way. It was about reacting to it.”
Klopp will be hoping that the dressing room can rally as they look to improve on last season’s fifth-placed finish, without Henderson and Milner, while Fabinho is set to join his former skipper in the Middle East.
Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai have already brought in as new recruits to help bolster a lacking midfield, but with further exits the Reds have eyed Southampton’s Romeo Lavia as their next addition – having submitted a second bid to the Saints of £45million.
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