No England call, but has Henderson's Ajax move worked out?

Jordan Henderson joined Ajax in January after his short stint in Saudi Arabia

First it was disbelief, but that feeling gradually gave way to a genuine hope among Ajax fans when they heard their club were attempting to sign Jordan Henderson.

It was reminiscent of summer 2014, when the Amsterdam side were linked to Samuel Eto'o.

But where the Cameroon striker signed for Everton, this time the rumours became reality when Ajax announced ex-Liverpool midfielder Henderson's arrival on a two-and-a-half-year contract in January.

The 33-year-old was available after leaving Al-Ettifaq, bringing a premature end to his much-debated stay in Saudi Arabia.

In a transfer window where there was little excitement otherwise, this was one of the big stories - both in the Netherlands and abroad.

Ajax really needed some experience - many older players left the club in recent years with mostly youngsters replacing them - and Henderson needed to be playing competitive football to stand a chance of making England's Euro 2024 squad.

A difficult start to the season remarkably saw Ajax bottom of the table for a short while. Perhaps even worse was their elimination from the Dutch Cup by amateur side Hercules.

At that point a managerial change had already taken place, with Maurice Steijn leaving the club after only four months in charge.

Behind the scenes, director of football Sven Mislintat was sacked.

The former Arsenal head of recruitment encountered much resistance with his policy of signing young players who were thrown in at the deep end, with experience clearly lacking.

John van 't Schip took over as interim manager, and with the former player in charge things started to look brighter.

Henderson was keen to buy into the project as well.

"I'll eat, breathe and sleep Ajax and dedicate myself every single day, every single session to try to be better and help this team and this club be better," he said during his unveiling.

His commitment to the cause could be seen in those early weeks, travelling on his own to an away game at Heracles in which he was not involved to support his new team-mates.

A week later, Henderson made his much-anticipated debut for the club in a 1-1 draw against league leaders - and eventual champions - PSV.

He got praise for his calmness and coaching of the team, while also creating a few opportunities.

'He came here to build Ajax'

In the weeks that followed, with usual captain Steven Bergwijn injured, the England international was handed the armband.

"Henderson's eagerness is extraordinary," said team-mate Sivert Manssverk. "He came here to build Ajax and it quickly became clear to me that he is a great addition to our squad."

Manager Van ‘t Schip also spoke highly of him: "He is a real professional, he is a leader, I think you can see it on the pitch. And the boys around him, they feel that and accept that as well.

"He communicates with the players on and off the field. He tries to help players recover better and also takes them into the gym."

But on the pitch, Ajax and Henderson could not follow up on that PSV game.

The level dropped with those injury problems for Bergwijn and also Steven Berghuis.

Henderson could not make his mark, unable to stabilise the inexperienced side.

The low point was a 4-0 defeat at Aston Villa in the Europa Conference League, in which the midfielder could not raise the level of a team low on confidence.

Before then there were also fitness concerns, something which became worse when he sustained a muscle injury in March which kept him sidelined for more than a month.

He discovered the severity of the issue while on England duty and, in consultation with Ajax, remained in his home country to be treated by specialists.

He missed five games, including a 6-0 thrashing at rivals Feyenoord - the heaviest defeat in Ajax's Eredivisie history - before returning for the final three matches of the campaign, meaning he only played nine of the available 16 league games.

England boss Gareth Southgate watched Henderson in Amsterdam

Partly because of injuries, the transfer has not worked out in the way some hoped.

"I'm pretty disappointed with what Henderson has brought so far," said Ajax supporter Jan Ruijtenberg, who has been following the club for almost 30 years.

"At that moment he arrived, Ajax was more or less level in points with AZ and we believed that maybe even Champions League qualification was a possibility.

"The reality is that AZ was in the race until the last day of the campaign, unlike Ajax, who eventually finished nine points behind them.

"And those points were given away for a large part in the games between Henderson’s debut and the moment he got injured, winning one out of six.

"What we hoped was that Henderson would solve the inconsistency, that he would stabilise the team, but that’s not the case."

Ruijtenberg does not lay the blame entirely at Henderson's door, and says you can see the "maturity" he has brought to the team.

"But overall, he hasn’t provided us with the turnaround we were all hoping for," he added.

"I think Van 't Schip made Henderson too important and he himself felt that responsibility perhaps, meaning he was a bit too much present on the pitch.

"He was claiming all set-pieces and corners, but I haven't really seen him giving any good deliveries from those situations. Ajax adjusted their system around him, with more bodies in midfield around Henderson in a kind of 5-4-1 formation.

"Since the moment they got rid of that system, things have gone better with Ajax attacking more, including the last few games in which Henderson played and he did all right."

Henderson played nine league games and three in the Europa Conference League for Ajax after arriving in January

Despite that, Ruijtenberg still wants Henderson to stay at Ajax under a new coach, and believes he is a player the club can rely on.

The big question now is whether that will happen, with Ajax having to draw up the balance sheet with his high wages a consideration point.

Henderson, having ultimately missed out on the England squad, will be contemplating his future, too.

Dutch weekly Voetbal International said the midfielder was startled by the level during training and matches and felt a lack of a high-performance culture at Ajax.

Henderson still wants to compete for trophies and perhaps has not found the environment he was used to at Liverpool.

It has to be said that Ajax have fallen off a cliff in recent years and are trying to rebuild rapidly, hence why they signed Henderson to help in that process.

Incoming manager Francesco Farioli, appointed on Thursday after the club did not reach an agreement with Graham Potter, will need to be asked about Henderson as well.

But if it is down to the players there seem to be no question marks.

After the last game of the season on Sunday at Vitesse, Devyne Rensch was another full of praise for the veteran.

"He is a real leader with a lot of experience," said the young defender.

"You also see it during training, even when you are talking to him, not necessarily about football, just about life, then you just hear and see that he is really a good guy, a good leader, a good player for the team.

"In terms of the game, and also the experience, he has certainly helped us."