Jurgen Klopp has insisted Jordan Henderson has no point to prove at Liverpool after signing a new contract in the summer – and is confident his captain will only get better.
Jurgen Klopp said: “Hendo is essential to all the things we’ve achieved in the last three years. He had no point to prove. If anybody thinks he didn’t play good last season or whatever, he was injured in the last part of the season and was very unlucky before that. He helped us in three different positions pretty much which was very tough. He had a tough year, all of us did, and in the decisive period of last season he couldn’t be involved because of injury. Then he went to the Euros and wasn’t involved as much because of the injuries before. That’s how it is but he doesn’t have a point to prove and I never want to give him that feeling because I know his natural motivation is already at the limit so you don’t have to put oil in the fire. There’s enough fire there already and that’s Hendo. The new contract is just what he deserves and what the club needed. We need players like him, and especially him, at the club in the long term because these boys, the qualities of them, the mindset of them, the attitude of them, they set standards for all the rest. That’s why it’s so important we have these players in the squad and on the pitch obviously. Hendo is not old, he can still develop and he has to and he will and I will not stop helping him with that. That’s the situation so I was not concerned that the new contract could stop him being a crazy devil from time to time on and off the pitch. His mindset is made for winning things and I’m really happy to have him here.”
And Klopp took time to praise Henderson for recently breaking one Premier League record, before demonstrating his own winner’s mentality when reiterating his focus on the club’s future and why he is never satisfied.
Jurgen Klopp added: “I read a statistic that we never lost when Fabinho and Thiago played together so that’s our midfield and the others cannot play! Hendo is so incredible. Maybe before Brighton, he surpassed Gareth Barry as the player with the most passes in the Premier League. Is that right? I read something like that and he still has four or five years to go. Successful passes? I asked Hendo, “are s**t passes involved?” So completed passes, so it’s an absolutely incredible number and he will have a few more! That says all about Hendo, he is absolutely great and a very important figure in this team. Unfortunately when we win nearly all games with a specific line-up, you still lost them. That’s the problem. There’s much more we have to achieve, so much more we have to go for, so much more we can improve. That’s what I’m concerned by, not what we did so far and how many passes we played so far but the good passes we play Sunday. The good passes we play in the next two, three and four years. That’s what I’m interested in and not the other things.”
