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(POOL / AFP via Getty Images)
Jordan Henderson mocked Roy Keanes’ criticism of his inclusion in the England squad and said he was ready to start his Euro 2020 opener against Croatia on Sunday.
Keane criticized Gareth Southgates’ decision to name Henderson to his 26-man squad, describing the clearly out-of-shape Liverpool captain’s choice as a huge distraction.
I’ve heard a lot of people say they want it everywhere, Keane said in his role as ITV expert. Why? Does he do card tricks?
Henderson made his first appearance since February as a halftime substitute in England’s pre-season fixture against Romania last Sunday, after missing most of the second half of the season as a result of groin surgery.
To be fair to Roy, he can say whatever he wants with me, he said. He gave me my debut [at Sunderland] and I wouldn’t be here without him giving it to me.
I found it quite funny, actually.
Listen, we know a few more details [about my condition], I know more details and the manager too, which Roy cannot.
But in terms of things like that, everyone is going to have an opinion, everyone is going to think they know better than everyone else.
But for me all I’ve focused on the last couple of months is working as hard as I can to be in a position where I can contribute to the tournament and I’m very grateful to be in that position now.
Southgate says any significant involvement for Henderson and Harry Maguire who missed the end of the season with ankle ligament damage in the tournament would be a bonus and admitted it would have been more difficult to include them in the squad if it was limited to 23 players. .
But Henderson insisted he wasn’t just part of the squad, which is the tournament’s second-youngest, as a seasoned cheerleader.
The card tricks Roy was talking about – I’ve got a few up my sleeve! said the Reds midfielder.
But, listen, as a player you want to play and I don’t come here just to go around the camp like Roy was saying.
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I want to come here and I want to contribute to the games. How much that doesn’t really depend on me, it’s up to the manager to make a decision.
But every time I am called, I will be ready and I hope I can make a big contribution to this tournament and to our success in the future.
(Getty Images)
Physically, I feel good, he added.
I have been training for a long, long time. The difference between training alone and training as a team is a big step forward, but I’ve been doing it in the last few weeks.
I played minutes in the [Romania] Game. Ideally, yes, you would probably want to play a few more games, but I think in the game I felt good, you will know better than me by looking at what I looked like.
But I feel like I’m pretty normal in the game. Obviously it’s a friendly game and it will be another step in tournament football.
But it’s up to me to show in training how physically ready I am, and then it’s up to the manager to make the decision.
When asked if he was concerned his tournament hopes might be lost after groin surgery in February, he replied: No, not really. I was still pretty positive and thought I had enough time to train and come back, if not for the end of the season then this tournament.
I’ve always been pretty positive and the physiotherapists too, to be fair, but when you go through the injury and the rehab and all that, you always know the deadline, but I worked really hard.
I’m thin. You probably wouldn’t know, but I’ve been training for a long time. It’s a little different training on your own instead of team training, which I managed to do towards the end of the season with Liverpool.
There was a bit of a gap at that point because everyone was gone, so I continued to work on my own and then returned to training with England.
This period has been really good for me, the intensity has intensified in the last few weeks and I entered the game the other day which was important, so I am going into the tournament in a good place, but I I also realize that I haven’t played so much in the last few months. But I feel really good and I hope I can be ready whenever I ask for it.
It’s always difficult when you’re hurt. I find it difficult when there is no football, but I worked hard to get there, so I’m very grateful to be here. I have to thank all the physiotherapists at the club and obviously here for getting me to this point.
But I feel good and I hope I can make my contribution when we are in the tournament.
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