Jordan Henderson out, Ross Barkley in for England as boos make way for guy who just ‘loves footy’

Ross Barkley just ‘loves footy’ and we would much rather see him pull on an England shirt than a man who sold his soul to the highest bidder. The last six months has seen quite the reversal in public opinion for two English midfielders.

‘I love footy’: a simple statement that we as stakeholders hope is a sentiment shared by all those fortunate (and good) enough to have made it their careers. Writing about it for a living is a pleasure few of my mates can get their heads around; playing it at the highest level must provide pinch-me moments all the livelong day.

But few footballers are outspoken on the joys. They talk about packed schedules, the risk of injury, taking each game as it comes, travel, training grievances and refereeing decisions. And while we don’t expect them to float through their careers in a permanent state of wonder, it’s telling that such a simple, uninhibited admission can provide such a feeling of warmth via a simple social media scroll.

Ross Barkley had watched a compilation of his brilliant best bits for Luton Town this season, and came to a conclusion he would first have reached more than two decades ago, while using jumpers for goalposts as his eyes adjusted with the setting sun. ‘I love footy’, he thought. So do we, Ross. So do we.

Barkley’s beautifully innocent proclamation is at odds with that of another English midfielder, for whom public opinion has also changed in the last six months, but to a far greater and more glaring extent. Jordan Henderson thought he loved money more than he ‘loves footy’, and the time it’s taken him to realise that’s not the case has cost him his reputation.

It also didn’t earn him anything, which must be more than a tad grating for him and the cause of great amusement for anyone who deplored his disregard for the LGBT+ community, whom he briefly championed before it was in his best interest to give them the middle finger.

While Barkley took a significant pay-cut for the love of the game, Henderson sold his soul to the highest bidder. Few would have predicted it would be that way around.

“When I see Ross, I see bits of [Michael] Ballack and bits of Gazza,” Roberto Martinez said a decade ago, and the Everton boss was far from the only one making such comparisons. He’s a ‘streets will never forget’ footballer we haven’t had the opportunity to forget about yet, who made his Everton debut at 17 and his England debut two years later. He’s the guy who celebrated before scoring, who often seemed to fail to toe the line between confidence and arrogance.

Had we all been told then that Barkley would one day be playing in the desert for a club owned by a Crown Prince, earning £350,000 per week, we would probably nod our heads and think ‘that sounds about right’. Not Jordan Henderson MBE though.

Not he who battled through adversity at Liverpool, where he was transfer listed by Brendan Rodgers but stayed to fight for his place and won him over, becoming club captain in 2015 and consistently proving doubters wrong as extra competition for his place arrived throughout Jurgen Klopp’s reign.

Klopp couldn’t assure him of game time, despite saying “if Hendo had performed, he would have had maybe 50 games, absolutely possible.” But it wasn’t Henderson’s departure that rocked the boat but the destination. Having said he would “stand shoulder to shoulder” with the LGBT+ community, he embraced a new career in a country where homosexuality is illegal, and made vague hints that he would be some sort of undercover sexual orientation agent working from the inside, before predictably sticking his head in the sand along with everyone else.

He’s now joined Ajax, whose social media team are working round the clock to extinguish Henderson’s Saudi sojourn from memory, understandably focusing on the coup of landing last season’s Liverpool skipper rather than this season’s captain of Al-Ettifaq. But England fans won’t forget.

Gareth Southgate may well pick him again. Henderson’s return to Europe will increase the chances of that. And in a position where Kalvin Phillips continues to be named in the squad despite essentially being an ex-footballer, there isn’t the raft of options like in the No.10 and forward roles.

He was booed when he played for England in October and him saying “I don’t know why” after the game will presumably only strengthen England fans’ resolve to boo him again. Barkley’s first cap for nearly five years would garner a far more positive response – perhaps more positive than any of his 33 previous appearances.

Barkley’s been brilliant for Luton, and is arguably in the best form of his life at 30. And it’s perhaps because of that late bloom that we would be so delighted to see him back in action for England.

Just like we thought Jordan Henderson was a man of the people, a good egg, we’ve had Barkley all wrong. He just ‘loves footy’, and we love him for it.