Jordan Henderson has experienced an eventful few weeks at Ajax. The 34-year-old appeared to be close to a stunning transfer to AS Monaco before the Dutch club blocked it.
Henderson was rumoured to have even gone on strike for a small period and warned Ajax that he won’t ever play for them if he wasn’t allowed to join Monaco.
Well, ultimately, both he and his agents realised that a transfer would put a stain on his reputation and agreed to stay on with the Eredivisie side for the time being.
A reporter who extensively covered this drama was De Telegraaf’s Mike Verweij. He wrote the piece of Henderson rebelling against Ajax and that he demanded an exit. For those unknowing, Verweij is a senior reporter for Dutch outlet De Telegraaf and has been working for them for the last 23 years.
He has well over 130,000 followers on X (Twitter) and is known for having strong sources in major Dutch clubs. Verweij refused to back down in demanding an explanation from Henderson over his decision to join Monaco before the plan ultimately failed.
The 34-year-old played in Ajax’s impressive 2-1 win over Feyenoord in the Eredivisie and opted to speak to the media right after. The De Telegraaf journalist took the perfect opportunity to trigger some honest answers of him, but the whole interaction turned extremely frosty very quickly.
Henderson was clearly agitated that Verweij tried painting him as an ‘enemy’ by trying to make him reveal details on wanting to leave Ajax for Monaco. The entire exchange went on for over two minutes, with both the reporter and Jordan getting heated in trying to disprove their claims.
Here’s how the entire emotional exchange went like:
Mike Verweij: ‘Can you say, Jordan, why you wanted to make a transfer to Monaco?’
Henderson: ‘Based on what, again?’
Mike Verweij: ‘The coach just told us you wanted to go to Monaco.’
Henderson: ‘The coach told you that I wanted to go to Monaco?’
Mike Verweij: ‘Yeah, because you had a big offer.’
Henderson: ‘Because I had a big offer? It’s not true.’
Mike Verweij: ‘Then you have to tell the coach it’s not true.’
Henderson: ‘Yeah.’
Mike Verweij: ‘OK. But did Ajax tell you they wanted to sell you?’
Henderson: ‘Did Ajax say they wanted to sell us? Well, they were negotiating, so I would imagine they did, yeah.’
Mike Verweij: ‘They were negotiating with Monaco?’
Henderson: ‘For a fee, yeah.’
Mike Verweij: ‘You wanted to transfer for free?’
Henderson: ‘No, no, no. They were negotiating the fee. But, again, Mike, it’s not about the details. I’m not giving you details. I know the truth. I know what happened. I’m not here to tell you details. I’m just here to tell you, from my side…’
Mike Verweij: ‘You say it’s not true. Can you give details?’
Henderson: ‘No, I don’t need to. I don’t need to. You can, though. It sounds like you can anyway.’
Mike Verweij: ‘I think you read it.’
Henderson: ‘Eh? Yeah, yeah. And it was untrue.’
Mike Verweij: ‘What was untrue, please?’
Henderson: ’99 per cent of it.’
Mike Verweij: ‘Yeah, but what? Give an example.’
Henderson: ‘What part? The bit before the game or the bit after?’
Mike Verweij: ‘How did he convince you to stay?’
Henderson: ‘It wasn’t him. And he didn’t need to convince us.’
Mike Verweij: ‘Who convinced you to stay?’
Henderson: ‘Nobody convinced me. Again, you’re going into the detail. It’s not about the detail.’
Mike Verweij: ‘But you know the details. Give us the details. If you tell us it’s not true…’
Henderson: ‘No, no, no, no. I don’t need to. I don’t need to sit here and defend…’
Mike Verweij: ‘Can you imagine that people thought that you wanted to force a transfer?’
Henderson: ‘But why did they think that?’
Mike Verweij: ‘Because of your behaviour on Thursday – not being a captain, not celebrating the second goal…’
Henderson: ‘Yeah, but you don’t know the information. I’ve just explained this.’
Mike Verweij: ‘Not thanking the crowd…’
Henderson: ‘I clapped the crowd when I went off.’
Ultimately, the Ajax press officer had to step in and stop this argument to allow other reporters ask questions regarding the game itself. The entire ordeal, however, makes for sensational viewing because of the sheer drama and emotions in it.
With most player interactions being quite robotic, the fieriness of this exchange has helped it become viral and perhaps raised the respect levels for both Henderson and the reporter among fans.