Could the Hendricks Midas touch / signing strike again ? !Originally Posted by pineapple stu
Returns to Derby. A surprisingly decent club given how long he's been unattached.
A deal to the end of the season, i.e. 10 games, presumably in the hope that he can add something positive in the dressing room rather than on the pitch.
Has retired
Only 33 - and to be honest, we could still do with him...
No we couldnt. He was the epitome of an empty shirt for most of his time with us. All our midfielders are Championship standard and very samey, Hendrick would fit right in there and be as un exciting as the rest of them
Its really not that complicated!!!
Yeah, as bad and all as our midfield problems are, Hendrick isn't the answer and he never really was. Fair play to him for knocking as long a Premier League career out of his talent as he did all the same.
Ah that's harsh. Hendrick played 150 games in the Premier across 5 seasons, qualifying for Europe one year and coming top half another. Was one of our better players at Euro 2016.
Given the way our midfield was torn a new one by Armenia, I don't see how such a player wouldn't improve us (however marginally). Still only 33 - very young to be retiring. 3½ years younger than Coleman.
If you look back through the Foot archives Id say youd struggle to find a player who was complained about as much as Hendrick for his Ireland performances. He was brilliant in the Euros for us in France and never repeated that sort of form. With his stature and ability he should have be the driving force of our midfield for 10 years, but he never seemed to be capable of more than just turning up. He might be one of our most frustrating ever players.
We like to romanticize the past, but pining for the days of Hendrick or Green, like I seen the other day, is too much
Its really not that complicated!!!
Hendrick is classic example of a player who was given a final big contract at a club, a reputed £50,000 per week (£2.6m a year over 4 years) and just stopped caring. His ambition was sated.
He was still only 28 when he joined Newcastle in 2020, and has only played one season of regular football since then, on loan at an atrocious Reading side that was relegated from the Championship.
Retiring at 33, 'to spend time with his family' as a player who never suffered a serious injury and always stayed fit, tells you all you need to know.
So no, we don't miss him at all.
It sounds like he's retiring because the only clubs that want him are at a level he doesn't want to play at. Presumably League 1 or lower. He has never played below Championship level his whole career.
He could probably go to the US or the sandpit but he doesn't seem to want to uproot his family. He'd likely have taken a Championship offer but nobody wants him at that level - which is not a surprise given his performances in that league in the last few years.
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