Henderson transfer: Ex-Liverpool star recommended nine moves as five clubs are ruled out
Darren Bent thinks Premier League side Brighton could “be a good landing spot” for former Liverpool midfielder Jordan Henderson as he recommends eight other clubs to move to.
Eyebrows were raised when the 33-year-old swapped his role as Liverpool skipper for the Saudi Pro League, joining Steven Gerrard’s Al-Ettifaq in a controversial £12million deal.
Henderson had been a high-profile supporter of LGBTQ+ rights during his time at Anfield and last month apologised for any hurt he caused by moving to a country where homosexuality is illegal.
A report last week claimed Henderson is now ‘desperate’ to return to the Premier League after just six months in Saudi Arabia with ‘heat and humidity’ mooted as reasons why he has ‘struggled to settle’ in the Middle East.
There have already been rumours about a number of English clubs being interested in snapping up Henderson with former Sunderland striker Bent hoping to see him back at the Stadium of Light.
Bent said on talkSPORT: “I would love to see him go back to Sunderland, because that’s his club. I don’t think it would be a step down from the Saudi League.
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“My only thing is he might be thinking in his head, ‘The Euros is at the end of the season, going to the Championship – it doesn’t add up’.
“I think he will be back at Sunderland at some point, but I still think there is a load of teams in the Premier League that would take him.”
On a potential return to Liverpool, Bent added: “When you look at what he achieved in his career – certainly at Liverpool – he won the lot, he was their influential captain. I don’t think he would come back to one of the top teams.
“You could do a lot worse than having someone like that in and around the dressing room.
“He was their captain, he understands how that club works to a tee – but they’ve got Virgil [van Dijk] there. They’ve got leaders there.
“Trent [Alexander-Arnold] is now evolving into a leader at the football club.
“But I’ve got no doubts whatsoever that he is still a Premier League player.”
Bent suggested Brighton as a potential good destination for the former Liverpool man, he continued: “Brighton might be a good landing spot for him. And the reason I say Brighton, is because look at [former Liverpool players] James Milner, and Adam Lallana.
“That older experienced player who could go in there and do a great job.”
On other Premier League clubs that Henderson could go to, Bent said: “Let’s go through the table. Would West Ham take him as a holding midfielder? Potentially.
“I don’t think he would go to Manchester United. Newcastle? No.
“I think he’s better than [Luton], and that’s no disrespect to Luton, I like Luton, I want them to stay up, but for what he’s achieved, he’s better than that.
“He’s not going to go to Everton, that is a fact.
“He could go to Brentford, I think he could go to [Nottingham] Forest, [Crystal] Palace, Fulham, Bournemouth, Wolves.”
