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That hinted at the various issues: how do you balance the moral, the footballing and the financial? Henderson\u2019s priorities can seem skewed. Southgate argued his situation bears similarities with those of many people in other walks of life.<\/p>\n
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Jordan Henderson\u2019s move to Saudi Arabia has caused plenty of controversy <\/p>\n
\u201cGiven the situation with Russia, we are reliant on Saudi Arabia for a lot of our oil,\u201d he said. \u201cI don\u2019t really know what the morality argument is because so many of our industries are wrapped up with Saudi investment but I don\u2019t hear any noises about that. It\u2019s only the football that\u2019s highlighted. The LGBT+ stance is a religious belief in that country.\u201d<\/p>\n
Perhaps Southgate struck a duff note in that sentence but a former ally of the LGBTQ+ community has been left looking like a man who sacrificed his principles for money. What remains to be seen is whether Henderson sacrificed his England career, too: he had long been adamant he would not retire from international football. But if Southgate is adamant he will not exclude a player because of the league he plays in, he remains unsure if it will prepare Henderson for the rigours of international football.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was the honest conversation we had: \u2018We\u2019re going to have to map you against players playing in a different league and in a different level of competition and we\u2019re just going to have to see how that goes\u2019,\u201d he said. \u201cWhat I have got to do is pick a team based on the technical, tactical, physical capabilities and the question about that league at the moment from our perspective is, \u2018Is the intensity going to be enough to be physically in the right condition for the level of games we are going to have?\u2019 We can only find out over a period of time.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Henderson has been turning out for Al-Ettifaq in Saudi Arabia <\/p>\n
Henderson\u2019s game has been built on his running power; if he wilts in the Saudi heat, he becomes a lesser force. And then there could be footballing grounds to exclude a midfielder who played well in England\u2019s June games. Southgate does not think there are yet, though Henderson was slipping down the pecking order at Anfield. His research may have to take him to the Middle East.<\/p>\n
It could become a regular trip. Southgate suspects the Saudi investment in football is not confined to one summer. There may yet be other England players joining Henderson there; Southgate noted that Saudi clubs are not just targeting the thirty-something footballers.<\/p>\n
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At some stage, he plans to scout Jude Bellingham and Harry Kane in person. \u201cWe haven\u2019t felt that was the best use of our time during the first weeks of the season,\u201d he said. \u201cLogistically it was important to get around the Premier League.\u201d <\/p>\n
Yet the presence of the England manager in Saudi Arabia would be more controversial than in Spain and Germany. If Henderson has made Saudi Arabia a problem for Southgate, it is one that is unlikely to go away.<\/p>\n