Roy Keane Participated in Jordan Henderson’s Career Journey

DBasia.news –  10 or 12 years ago no one would have thought Jordan Henderson could be like this: won the Champions League title, European Super Cup, captained Liverpool, and was on the verge of ending the Premier League title of the Reds.

Players born in Sunderland, a small city with a population of 170 thousand inhabitants, reach the dream of playing for a prestigious and historic club in England. Jordan Henderson is an ideal example for talented young players.

Hard work, focus and determination to reach the top brought Henderson to his current level of play with a record of 55 caps with the England national team. At the age of 29 years.

Jordan Henderson’s career began with a local club, Sunderland. Trained at the academy from 1998 to 2008, Henderson was promoted to the Sunderland first team in 2008. In fact Henderson almost failed to penetrate and failed to get a professional contract.

There is a limit between success and failure in Henderson’s early career. Ricky Sbragia, a former Sunderland manager, saw firsthand developments in the career stages of Jordan Henderson.

“There is one professional contract that remains to be awarded and it is a direct choice between three youth academies,” Sbragia told Mirror.

“The night before the decision was made, it still had not been decided. When I went to the house, I did not know which one would get the contract.”

“When I returned the next day, Jordan was chosen. What did he see? The attitude you saw today – that made him successful. It just shows how thin the dividing line is.”

Sbragia (63 years) had been part of the coaching staff of Roy Keane, the Manchester United legend who gushed Sunderland in 2006-2008. Believe it or not, Keane has a big role in forming Henderson’s character.

“Roy can see his potential. I don’t think there is any doubt about that. Roy took him, and Jordan will take a lot from him. Yes, Roy is good for him,” added Sbragia.

“The years and experience he has had in that position, that is undoubted assistance. As everyone knows, Roy is one of the best – if not the best – midfielders in the world at one time.”

Learning from Keane, who was legendary at Man United with his character, Henderson applied it well in every training session and hard work. Keane tested his mentality in one match against Chelsea.

“However, towards the end, that wasn’t enough when Roy was in charge at Sunderland, but I remember when Jordan played one of his first matches,” added Sbragia.

“We were at Chelsea – and lost 0-3 in the first round. Frank Lampard, Deco and Jon-Obi Mikel played in their midfield.”

“We are catching up and Roy must think that this is the right time to see what he did when he played Jordan in the first round. Jordan could not be more than (age) 18 (years).”

“When we reviewed the match afterwards – it made a painful display because we finally conceded five goals – but Jordan had given a pretty good report about himself. He was certainly not afraid of the situation in which he was, or the players he was fighting.”

Henderson was loaned to Coventry City in 2009 and the period was used as a learning phase. Liverpool came to sign him in 2011 and Henderson became the successor to the team’s legendary captain, Steven Gerrard.

The rest of Henderson’s career tells the story of a player from Sunderland who climbed to the top of the world through hard work.