Next season, Jordan Henderson might replace James Milner at Liverpool, leaving Trent Alexander-Arnold in need of some help as Jürgen Klopp’s inverted full-back.
This summer, Jürgen Klopp will lose his master of all trades. James Milner, who has held a number of different positions at Anfield and established himself as one of the most adaptable performers on the continent, has provided him with fantastic services for the past eight years.
Since joining Liverpool in 2015, the Reds icon has played both left and right back in addition to a variety of other midfield positions. When his contract expires in the upcoming weeks, he will leave Merseyside, but Klopp may already have his replacement among the ranks.
Jordan Henderson has been a prominent figure for Liverpool over the past decade, sporting the captain’s armband as the Reds secured memorable Premier League and Champions League titles just a few years ago. Like Milner, he will go down as a true great, but he will turn 33 years old later this month.
Henderson’s commitment to the cause is virtually unrivalled, but he can no longer play every single game for Liverpool and with Klopp exploring transfer deals for midfielders such as Alexis Mac Allister, Mason Mount and Ryan Gravenberch to name but a few, a new role could open up for the Englishman.
Dating back to April, Henderson has been deployed as an advanced number eight of sorts. Since Klopp adopted his new-look 3-2-5 shape, he’s required his two number eights to effectively behave like number 10s whenever Liverpool has possession, with Curtis Jones flourishing on the left side of the field.
The Reds skipper, by contrast, has given his all but doesn’t look like as much of a seamless fit on the right side. It is reasonable to suggest that based on his skill set, he would perhaps be better suited to playing in Fabinho’s position whenever the Brazilian international requires a rest.
Henderson can still be presented with a fair amount of minutes on the field for Liverpool, but he might have to become accustomed to playing as a support act, just like Milner did. Whenever Klopp needed to call upon the latter to do a job for him, he would step up and deliver as a manager’s dream.
Klopp simply doesn’t have anybody else who can do what Alexander-Arnold does. Milner is one of the few who has experience as a midfielder and as a full-back, but he is leaving the club this summer. It remains to be seen how Klopp will navigate the problem, but Henderson could be an unorthodox solution.
He doesn’t yet have experience as a full-back under his belt, but he has comparable qualities to Milner and his tactical intelligence is mature considering he’s been working under Klopp since the German was first appointed at Anfield back in 2015. Henderson is a different sort of player to Alexander-Arnold but nevertheless, he does have applicable skills based on the demands of the inverted full-back role.
Ultimately, as pre-season approaches, Klopp could have a tactical experiment to test with his captain behind the scenes
