Image: Steve Bruce‘s dismissal of stories that he has put a £20m price tag on the head of Jordan Henderson is timely and wise.
One sure result of publicly stating such a value would be to announce to the world that Jordan was for sale.
And another would be to fix the quoted sum as the highly negotiable starting point, with one of the Manchester clubs, Chelsea or maybe even ‘appy ‘arry coming in with a joke offer of rather than less than half. For a player we very much want to stay at Sunderland anyway.
Fortunately, Bruce is now quoted by ESPN and Sky Sports as saying: “I haven’t put any price tag on anything. The only thing know is that Jordan is an exceptional footballer and has got the world talking about him since he scored for the Under-21s in front of the England manager.
“The speculation that he is going to be in the next England squad has had everybody talking about Jordan.
“We have known about him for about 18 months now. He is a fantastic player.
“I haven’t put any price on his head at all, that would be ridiculous of me.”
If – when – the subject crops up again, the sharks of Manchester united, Manchester City, Chelsea and anyone else impressed by Jordan’s skills should reflect on the following, much more realistic and intentionally “hands off” valuation:
Fantasy football: Man City ahead of United in Hendo chase
Monsieur Salut
I certainly hope Jordan stays with Sunderland and continues to progress, but if the big boys try to muscle in then we should ask for one of their best players in return and see how they like it! For instance City can throw in Adam Johnson and Nedum Onuoha, and I’m sure the other teams will have players we could use! I think they would all think twice if that was our approach! If things don’t change the top four as it stands now will always be the top four and I for one think that is wrong. The game needs to change!!!