Jordan Henderson has ended his Brentford contract by mutual consent, clearing the way for a free move while speculation around Chelsea continues to grow.<\/p>\n
The midfielder confirmed the decision in a farewell message published on Brentford\u2019s website on Wednesday, offering a detailed tribute to the club and those around it.<\/p>\n
\u201cI leave Brentford with a lot of gratitude for the opportunity the club gave me, and for the support and care shown to me and my family from day one,\u201d Henderson wrote in a message on the club\u2019s website when the news broke on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
He added that returning to the Premier League had been a major personal goal, and said Brentford had given him that opportunity.<\/p>\n
\u201cComing back to the Premier League was really important to me, and Brentford gave me that chance. I\u2019ll always be thankful for that. I hope I was able to play my part in helping the team through an important period for the club. We achieved a lot together last season, and it\u2019s something everyone involved should be proud of.<\/p>\n
\u201cBrentford is a special football club. It\u2019s ambitious, progressive and full of good people. From the owners and leadership, to the coaching staff, the players and everyone behind the scenes, it\u2019s been a privilege to be part of it.<\/p>\n
\u201cMost of all, I\u2019d like to thank the supporters. Their backing never changed, and the connection they have with the club is clear to see. They care deeply about Brentford and they support the team in the right way every step of the journey.\u201d<\/p>\n
Chelsea were not mentioned in the farewell, although Henderson\u2019s departure means a switch across west London appears increasingly possible. The midfielder is also still recovering from a broken arm sustained during the celebrations of England\u2019s World Cup win over Mexico.<\/p>\n
The situation fits neatly into Xabi Alonso\u2019s clear emphasis on experience at Chelsea. Earlier this summer, there were reports of interest in Sunderland veteran Granit Xhaka, largely linked to his relationship with the new Blues boss from their time at Bayer Leverkusen. Henderson\u2019s exit now underlines how central seniority appears to be in Alonso\u2019s thinking.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Henderson ends his Brentford deal and Chelsea interest grows after a farewell on Wednesday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":18113,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[190],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18114","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chelsea"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18114","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18114"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18114\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18113"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18114"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18114"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18114"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}