There were two ways to win over Jamie Carragher in his Liverpool days.
The first, according to Peter Crouch, was to deal with the test he and Steven Gerrard had for all new arrivals which involved the pair of Liverpool legends walloping balls at their new teammates in order to see how well they could control the ball.
The second, apparently, was to stand up for yourself.
Carragher has recently spoken about when he became convinced of Jordan Henderson’s ability to lead the Reds.
The former defender has revealed how a training ground spat between Henderson and forward Luis Suarez was the first time that Carragher realised that Henderson potentially had what it took to live up to his potential at Anfield.
“Jordan cost Liverpool £20 million when he came from Sunderland in 2011, and Kenny Dalglish, the manager at the time, wanted to find a place for him in the team, and he initially played a lot of games on the right of midfield,” Carragher told ESPN FC.
“It took him time to find his feet. He could be a very intense character back then who would get frustrated and emotional at times, but I remember him having a spat with Luis Suarez in training one day and I just thought: ‘Do you know what? He has something.’
“They didn’t come to blows or anything like that, but Jordan and Luis clashed over something and exchanged words, but Jordan stood up to him.
“That’s not easy as a young player, especially with Luis being one of the older, established pros, but it showed Jordan’s determination, and a lot of us, myself included, wanted him to do well because he was so enthusiastic and clearly hungry to succeed.”
Henderson will lead Liverpool out at the NSC Olimpiyskiy Stadium in Kiev on Saturday, when he has the chance to lift Liverpool’s sixth European Cup trophy with a victory over Real Madrid in the Champions League final.
