Jordan Henderson slammed for having ‘zero quality’ as ex-Liverpool star helps ‘nobody’ at Ajax

Jordan Henderson Ajax

Former Tottenham star Rafael van der Vaart has slammed ex-Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson as the Ajax newcomer has “zero quality”.

The England international left Liverpool during last year’s summer transfer window. The midfielder made the controversial decision to link back up with Steven Gerrard with Saudi Pro League outfit Al-Ettifaq.

This move did not go to plan for Henderson as it emerged ahead of the January transfer window that he was ‘desperate’ to leave the Middle East outfit.

After being linked with several Premier League clubs, Henderson joined Dutch giants Ajax after his contract with Al-Ettifaq was terminated.

Henderson is four games into his Ajax career but he is still without a win. He has two draws and a defeat in the Eredivisie, while they were held to a 2-2 stalemate against Bodo/Glimt in the Europa League last week.

Ajax are now fifth in the Eredivisie and at risk of being eliminated from the Europa League. Former Spurs midfielder Van der Vaart has now hit out at Henderson.

“Ajax have brought in players with zero quality,” Van der Vaart said on Dutch TV (via The Mirror).

“The club will now have to see out the rest of the season. They have brought in Jordan Henderson. All he does is to play a little pass out wide, or a little pass back. But nobody will be happy with that.

“You’ll see on Thursday that they will get through their Conference League tie against Bodo/Glimt with all the luck in the world. Afterwards it’s best for them to get knocked out, and to make a fresh start next season.

“As an Ajax man my heart bleeds. I don’t know what I can say about them any more.”

Henderson recently suggested that he has “settled in really quickly” at Ajax.

“A really good with the group. The players have been really good with me, I’ve settled in really quickly. The staff as well have been brilliant,” Henderson told reporters.

“On that part, it’s been really easy for me to come and settle in. But it’s going to take a while for us to get to where we want to get to and I just want to keep trying to play games and help the team as much as possible to get the team to where they want to be.”

After Ajax’s 2-2 draw against Bodo/Glimt, Henderson admitted: “They’re a good team. They set up really well, very organised.

“They hurt us on the counter-attack a couple of times. We did well in the end to come back from 2-0 behind.

“We showed great character again but we leave it too late. You’ve got to start games better and start games like we finish in the last couple. If we do that then it can be a different game. In the end the lads kept going right until the end, got our rewards and kept the tie alive.”