Former Liverpool chief Damien Comolli has insisted the club would not have won the Premier League or Champions League if he had not signed Jordan Henderson for them.
Henderson joined Liverpool in a £16.2m deal from Sunderland in July 2011, with the Reds moving to secure the midfielder as part of a summer rebuild under Kenny Dalglish.
His arrival was questioned at the time, given he had not exactly set the world alight with the Black Cats, and those questions only increased as he struggled to establish himself in Liverpool’s first team.
Indeed, he was close to leaving Anfield at one point when Brendan Rodgers deemed him surplus to requirements and tried to use him in a swap deal for Fulham’s Clint Dempsey.
He’s since become a key player under Rodgers and his successor Jurgen Klopp, becoming the leader Liverpool were looking for and, in some people’s opinion, filling the captain’s shoes vacated by Steven Gerrard.
The decision to stay has certainly gone well, with Henderson since captaining Liverpool to Premier League and Champions League titles as well as the UEFA Super Cup, FIFA Club World Cup and the EFL Cup this year.
Those successes were ones he played a key role in, and Comolli, who was criticised for signing the midfielder, is more than pleased he ignored the detractors.
“I was even told it was a huge mistake,” he told So Foot.
“But when you recruit a young player, you have to wait. Jordan was going to break through, that was certain.
“I can assure you that without him, they won’t win the Champions League or the Premier League. I am 100% convinced of that.”
