Gareth Southgate has refused to rule out selecting Jordan Henderson for England duty despite his move to Saudi Arabia.
The midfielder called an end to a trophy-laden time with Liverpool earlier this summer in order to take up a lucrative offer with Al-Ettifaq, now managed by former Anfield icon Steven Gerrard.
Henderson has faced criticism for moving to the Gulf state, where same-sex relationships are illegal, given his previous support for the LGBTQ+ community in football.
Southgate has revealed the 33-year-old sought assurances that his international career would not be over should he opt to leave the Premier League.
Henderson is one of the most experienced members in Southgate’s set-up having won 77 caps since his making his debut in 2010.
Despite the emergence of younger options such as Jude Bellingham, Declan Rice and Kalvin Phillips, Henderson remained a crucial figure at the World Cup in Qatar.
Speaking on talkSPORT, Southgate said: “I spoke to him in the summer, the question he wanted to know was, ‘If I move here, are you going to automatically rule me out?’.
"We would be stupid to do that. Why would we rule anyone out based on where they are playing? We have got to see how they are playing. We have an idea of what that league will look like but we won’t know until we actually start to see the games.
"If you asked me three months ago what that league would look like, I’d have a very different idea to what it is looking like as more and more players decide to go there. Big-name players but not so many that are in the prime of their careers but not players past their sell-by date.
"I think that whole project is fascinating for where it is going to head and what that might look like over the next few years. But Henderson won’t be playing in the Premier League. He won’t play in the Champions League, which is the easiest assessment for the level he is playing at."
England are back in action next month with a Euro 2024 qualifier against Ukraine before a friendly with Scotland in Glasgow.
