There are two different views of Jordan Henderson.
The first is among a section of England’s support who see his continued presence in Thomas Tuchel’s squad as proof of the mediocre standards that will undermine any World Cup challenge.
And then there’s the people who have worked with him day in, day out, observing his “standards” and watching him work who – almost to a man – can’t believe there’s even a debate.
“When you observe what he brings every day, having Jordan in the England World Cup squad makes total sense,” says one source at Brentford, where Henderson’s impact after a summer move from Ajax has been immediate and impressive.
Would they have him at the World Cup? There is no hesitation: “100 per cent. First of all he’s performing and then there’s all the stuff people don’t see which – in a long World Cup as part of a group where not everyone is guaranteed minutes – is so crucial. You’ve got to take him.”
After the iffy logic of leaving Liverpool for an ill-fated stint in the Saudi Pro League – a transfer that the Henderson camp have reason to look back on with deep regret – the move to west London feels like a very smart one in the season before the World Cup.
62 yards
— Brentford FC (@BrentfordFC) September 29, 2025
Jordan Henderson with the longest assist of the @premierleague season so farpic.twitter.com/lmlJiWGxr5
First off, the optics of signing for a club with a reputation for shrewd recruitment are good. Brentford deal in advanced metrics to judge output and Henderson ticked every box when they were looking to replace the influential Christian Norgaard.
His on-the-ball actions were “as good, if not better” than the player he replaced and his physical output was superior to some players half his age. And that’s before we start digging into the unseen stuff, which is where his reputation really soars among those in the game.
The acerbic Roy Keane once challenged the notion that Henderson’s off-the-field impact was crucial for England by asking what exactly that meant.
“Does he do card tricks for them?” he asked with a glint in his eye. “Does he do sing-songs in the evening or quizzes?”
It was a classic Keane soundbite but he perhaps had a point. What is it that managers see in Henderson that so endears him to them?
One figure who has worked closely with him identifies three things. Firstly his preparation is “elite”. He does the right things to prepare for each game, right down to the amount of time he spends in the gym and physio room getting massages. He is “religious” about the amount of core work he does every week.
This, his ex-colleague says, “sets the tone” for younger players. If they see Henderson doing it and he’s excelling at 35, many follow his lead.
In training he’s also a consistent and vocal driver of standards, which is a godsend for managers. If sessions are lacklustre or players aren’t committing he is not afraid to raise his voice and demand better from his colleagues – and that extends to so-called star men in the group.
His decade at Anfield means he knows what a high level of training looks like and because his own training ground performances never drop he has the authority to call out others.
Thirdly – and this might be the most crucial – he is an expert at game management. He understands the flows and rhythms of a game and whether the tempo needs to be slowed or quickened to help his team. He even “manages referees” expertly, according to one ex-colleague.
At Brentford they concur. He is consistently one of the last out of the club’s training ground and on England duty officials rave about his attitude to every single session.
“In terms of his professionalism and standards, he’s up there with the very best,” another former colleague tells The i Paper.
“In a World Cup where only 11 can play and there’s a lot of time between games part of the challenge is maintaining those high levels, even with the players who aren’t guaranteed to play any minutes. That’s where Jordan can be crucial in driving standards.”
It helps that in this England group he commands almost universal respect. He is close to Jude Bellingham – who was not picked by Thomas Tuchel for this camp in what felt like a shot across the bows – but also makes a point of getting to know the less experienced members of the group too. Those things are noticed.
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“We were convinced about this move to bring him back and since I met him in person and since I saw him and observed him in camp, I am more convinced than ever that he is a very important addition to this group,” Tuchel said earlier this year.
“Especially when we talk about connections, especially when we talk about setting standards and keeping the group up to the standards. He is at the moment the man that I don’t want to miss the value of having people within your camp that do set those standards.”
For this camp the debate might even have moved on. Given his form for Brentford – two wonderful assists from a deep-lying midfield role helped him to win the club’s player of the month award for September – he might actually be pressing to start games in the run up to the World Cup.
While Declan Rice feels like a shoo-in barring injury, no one has really made the No 6 role their own. Elliot Anderson’s audition in Serbia was a big success but Henderson believes he is in with a shot of starting games in the USA if he can maintain his form. Only a fool would rule it out.
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