Liverpool

Ex-Liverpool chief: 'Jordan Henderson signing got me sacked'

By Daniel Lewis, Senior Reporter | 11 October 2016

Damien Comolli puts his sacking as Liverpool's director of football down to stand-in England skipper Jordan Henderson's slow start to life at Anfield.

Former Liverpool director of football Damien Comolli has suggested that he was given his marching orders by the club after 'wasting money' on Jordan Henderson.

The Frenchman helped negotiate a £16m deal with Sunderland for Henderson in 2011, while Stewart Downing, Andy Carroll and Charlie Adam also joined for a combined £62m.

Fenway Sports Group were unhappy with the return on their money and therefore dismissed Comolli, with the former Reds chief adamant that the signing of Henderson - who struggled to win over supporters in the early stages of his Anfield career - was particularly to blame for the axe being swung by the owners.

"Henderson is one of the main reasons I got sacked," he told talkSPORT. "The day I got sacked they told me I had made a big mistake on Jordan and he was a waste of money. Everybody is entitled to their own opinion, but I think we paid the right price.

"He was a young English, British player and we know very often that British players are overvalued. But we were more than happy to pay the price because we thought he would become an outstanding player.

"I never said it publicly, but I was convinced he would be the future captain. People will say it is easy to say now, but I was convinced at the time that he would become the Liverpool captain. Now he is and he is also the England captain."

Henderson has been handed the captain's armband for England's meeting with Slovenia in Ljubljana this evening in the absence of dropped skipper Wayne Rooney.