Jordan Henderson ‘sorry’ for ‘hurting’ LGBTQ+ community as he breaks silence on controversial Saudi Arabian transfer

JORDAN HENDERSON has said “sorry” for “hurting” the LGBTQ+ community following his controversial Saudi Arabian transfer.

The ex-Liverpool captain linked up with former team-mate Steven Gerrard at Al-Ettifaq.

But he faced backlash for moving to Saudi, known for its poor human rights record and where homosexuality is punishable by death.

Henderson, who is reportedly earning £700,000-a-week in Saudi, was a vocal supporter of the Premier League’s Rainbow Laces campaign and inclusion within the game.

He was slammed by the LGBTQ+ community following his move to the Middle East.

Now, Henderson has spoken out about his decision for the first time in an interview with .

He said: “I think there was always going to be criticism regardless of what I did, whether I stayed, whether I went.

“So basically I had to make the decision on what was best for me and my family. So the football is the football side.

“So do I go somewhere to try something new, to grow the game that I love in another country, and grow the league into one of the best in the world?

“That excites me because I want to grow the sport all over the world. And that got me going, really.

“And obviously the LGBTQ+ community. I can understand the frustration. I can understand the anger. I get it.

“All I can say around that is that I’m sorry that they feel like that. My intention was never, ever to hurt anyone.

“My intention has always been to help causes and communities where I felt like they have asked for my help.

“Now, when I was making the decision, the way that I tried to look at it was I felt as though, by myself not going, we can all bury our heads in the sand and criticise different cultures and different countries from afar.

“But then nothing’s going to happen. Nothing’s going to change.”

Henderson has denied being on wages of £700,00-per-week or getting paid for social media posts promoting the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

He said: “Anything contractually was all to do with football. But there’s a lot of stuff that gets reported in the media and on social media.

“And I’ve learned over the years that you don’t know what’s true and what’s not. So you’ve got to go and experience it for yourself.

“So my (reported) wages, for one, are not true. I see stuff about me that’s just not true. There’s loads of things.

“Do we sit over in the UK just criticising everything that goes on in the Middle East when really, when you’re there, it’s not quite like that.

“And I’ve found that over the past few weeks that the perception that I’ve seen in the media here, to what is the reality over there isn’t the same.”

It’’s glaringly obvious that his move to Al-Ettifaq falls squarely within Saudi Arabia’s mega-money sportswashing project

Peter Frankental, Amnesty International UK

Henderson left Liverpool after 12 years at the club where he lifted both the Champions League and Prem title.

But he was allowed to leave in the summer for just £12million and did so after feeling unwanted by the club’s hierarchy.

Henderson said: “If one of those people said to me, ‘Now we want you to stay’, then we wouldn’t be having this conversation. And I have to then think about what’s next for me in my career.

“Now, that’s not to say that they forced me out of the club or they were saying they wanted me to leave but at no point did I feel wanted by the club or anyone to stay.”

Peter Frankental, Amnesty International UK’s Economic Affairs Director, said: “Jordan Henderson is, of course, free to play football wherever he wishes, but it’s glaringly obvious that his move to Al-Ettifaq falls squarely within Saudi Arabia’s mega-money sportswashing project.

“Like other footballers who’ve made the move to Saudi Arabia, we’ve urged Henderson to counter the sportswashing effect and use his privileged status to speak out about human rights issues in the country.

“At the same time that it’s ramped up spending on overseas footballers, Saudi Arabia has cracked down on human rights at home, with peaceful activists jailed, as many as 196 people executed last year alone, and Jamal Khashoggi’s murder still the subject of a state cover-up.

“Just last week, news emerged that the retired teacher Mohammad bin Nasser al-Ghamdi has been sentenced to death by a Saudi court for his entirely peaceful remarks on Twitter and YouTube. Meanwhile, the Leeds University PhD student Salma al-Shehab is still languishing in jail after being given a decades-long sentence for tweeting her support for Saudi women’s rights activists.

“Having respect for a country’s religion and culture shouldn’t mean turning a blind eye to serious human rights violations like the criminalisation of homosexuality or the jailing of human rights defenders.

“We’re not expecting sporting figures like Henderson to reinvent themselves as human rights experts, but we’d ask them to publicly acknowledge the plight of people such as Salma al-Shehab and Mohammad bin Nasser al-Ghamdi whenever the opportunity arises.”