It was reminiscent of summer 2014, when the Amsterdam side were linked to Samuel Eto’o.
But where the Cameroon striker signed for Everton, this time the rumours became reality when Ajax announced ex-Liverpool midfielder Henderson’s arrival on a two-and-a-half-year contract in January.
The 33-year-old was available after leaving Al-Ettifaq, bringing a premature end to his much-debated stay in Saudi Arabia.
In a transfer window where there was little excitement otherwise, this was one of the big stories – both in the Netherlands and abroad.
Ajax really needed some experience – many older players left the club in recent years with mostly youngsters replacing them – and Henderson needed to be playing competitive football to stand a chance of making England’s Euro 2024 squad.
A difficult start to the season remarkably saw Ajax bottom of the table for a short while. Perhaps even worse was their elimination from the Dutch Cup by amateur side Hercules.
At that point a managerial change had already taken place, with Maurice Steijn leaving the club after only four months in charge.
Behind the scenes, director of football Sven Mislintat was sacked.
The former Arsenal head of recruitment encountered much resistance with his policy of signing young players who were thrown in at the deep end, with experience clearly lacking.
John van ‘t Schip took over as interim manager, and with the former player in charge things started to look brighter.
Henderson was keen to buy into the project as well.
“I’ll eat, breathe and sleep Ajax and dedicate myself every single day, every single session to try to be better and help this team and this club be better,” he said during his unveiling.
His commitment to the cause could be seen in those early weeks, travelling on his own to an away game at Heracles in which he was not involved to support his new team-mates.
A week later, Henderson made his much-anticipated debut for the club in a 1-1 draw against league leaders – and eventual champions – PSV.
He got praise for his calmness and coaching of the team, while also creating a few opportunities.
