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Arne Slot has praised the impact of former Liverpool players Jordan Henderson and Caoimhin Kelleher following their summer moves to Brentford.
The pair will line up against the Reds for the first time on Saturday, when Slot’s side travels to the Gtech Community Stadium. It will be an emotional occasion for both players, who have long-held ties to the club.
For Henderson, the ex-captain recently revealed his regret that his rushed exit in 2023 meant he was unable to say goodbye to the Liverpool supporters at the end of his 12-year spell at the club. That came before Slot’s time at Anfield, but the Dutchman went out of his way to reference Henderson’s impact before this weekend’s clash.
“Although I haven't worked with him, we're going to face Jordan Henderson, who, as I've been told, is the only Liverpool captain that lifted six trophies,” said the Liverpool head coach on Friday.
“In Holland, they cannot stop talking about how much Ajax is missing Jordan Henderson.
"That tells you how important he was for Ajax and how important has been for Liverpool, and how he now is for Brentford."
As for Kelleher, the Irishman pushed to leave Liverpool last summer in order to earn a first-team spot elsewhere after years holding down a role as Alisson’s deputy.
Slot didn’t want to lose the 26-year-old but admitted it was the right time for the Liverpool academy graduate to move on.
“Maybe a goalkeeper is an exception, but in general, I don't think it's a healthy situation for a player to be on the bench longer than a year, or miss out on many games in a year, and then go into the next season.
“It's so hard for them to keep giving everything on a daily basis. So that was also one of the reasons why we thought it was best for Jarell Quansah, for Harvey Elliott to find another club.
“For Caoim, like I said, goalkeeper is a bit different, but he did this for so many years that he felt it was time for him to start playing. He's shown that he's right, because he does really well.”
Brentford also has two other ex-Reds in its ranks, with Sepp van den Berg and Fabio Carvalho in Keith Andrews’ squad.
Meanwhile, Slot confirmed ahead of the game that Ryan Gravenberch and Alexander Isak remain injury doubts, while Jeremie Frimpong and Alisson have been ruled out due to injury.
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