Say what you will about Jordan Henderson but there can be no doubting the man’s courage.

The midfielder has battled criticism throughout his career to become a Champions League winner with Liverpool.

And when you consider his involvement in the Raheem Sterling and Joe Gomez drama this week, it becomes clear that he’s a true leader.

Henderson is in his ninth season at Liverpool now and he’s reaping the rewards of their success under Jurgen Klopp.

But it wasn’t always easy for the former Sunderland player.

Arriving at Liverpool in 2011 at the age of 20, he suddenly found himself in a team where expectations were high.

Henderson has spoken about his start to life as a Liverpool player on Jamie Carragher’s podcast, revealing that Luis Suarez wasn’t convinced by him at first.

And Suarez’s constant criticism left Henderson “ready to kill” the Uruguayan forward.

“I was trying to do the best I can do. Being a footballer, there is criticism and people doubting you all the time,” Henderson told The Greatest Game with Jamie Carragher podcast.

“At that time, I was a young player and there were one or two things Luis did in training that I didn’t like.

“It made me feel I wasn’t good enough to be in the same team in training.

“The arms were up like ‘what the f***, what is he doing’, like I shouldn’t be there.

That really hurt me. He did it three times and then I exploded and I was ready to kill him.

Henderson didn’t let Suarez’s comments get to him, though, and has since gone on to succeed Steven Gerrard as Liverpool’s captain.

And the pair soon patched things up, with Suarez developing into something of a mentor for Henderson.

“From that point, I had a good relationship with Luis. The next game I set him up for his goal,” the 29-year-old added.

“He was brilliant with me after that and I was really close to him after that and he was another big player I learned from.”