Jordan Henderson responded to Roy Keane’s England selection rant – in which the former Manchester United man had questioned the 30-year-old’s inclusion – by downplaying the critique.
The Liverpool captain returned to Gareth Southgate’s squad, playing a half in the national side’s 1-0 victory over Romania; the final friendly before the start of the European Championships.
“To be fair to Roy, he can say what he wants about me. He gave me my debut and I wouldn’t be here without him giving me that,” the Englishman was quoted as saying by the Independent.
“He can say whatever he wants about me. I found it quite funny, actually.
“So, yeah, listen, we know a little bit more detail, I know more detail and so does the manager, which Roy may not.
“But in terms of stuff like that, everyone’s going to have an opinion, everybody’s going to think they know better than everybody else.
“But for me all my focus has been on the last couple of months is working as hard as I possibly can to be in a position where I can contribute in the tournament and I’m very thankful I’m in that position now.”
Considering that the former Sunderland man was ruled out for the rest of the domestic season and considered highly unlikely to make the international tournament, it was a remarkable return to fitness for the No.14.
While, selfishly, we would have preferred to see our skipper watching the Euros from the comfort of his own home, resting up before another campaign with Liverpool, it was nice to see him return to the pitch.
As the midfielder fairly noted, he certainly appears fit enough to compete in the upcoming competition – a fact that Keane was apparently not privy to.
Given that we’ve already lost one crucial player to injury in Trent Alexander-Arnold, however, we at the EOTK are hopeful that this tournament doesn’t create any further problems for Jurgen Klopp’s side.
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