Henderson happy to wait on new Liverpool deal

Liverpool midfielder Jordan Henderson is in no rush to sign a new contract before the end of the season.

Jordan Henderson is prepared to wait until the end of the Premier League season before signing a new deal with Liverpool.

Henderson has 18 months remaining on his existing deal at Anfield and captain Steven Gerrard has urged Liverpool’s hierarchy to tie down the England international.

However, the 24-year-old wants to focus on his football from now until the end of the campaign, with Liverpool vying for a spot in the UEFA Champions League.

“Coming from someone like him it’s a massive compliment but that’s just something that could distract me from my football and I don’t want that to happen,” Henderson told Sky Sports.

“We’re just really focused on our football, and our agents will sort the other side of things out. Hopefully they can work something out soon, if not then we’ll just wait until the end of the season.

“It doesn’t really affect us as players. It’s not really up to us – it’s up to the club and the agent to sort something out, and we just focus on what we’re meant to do – that’s play football.”

Henderson – scorer of three goals in all competitions this season – has been tipped by manager Brendan Rodgers to captain the club once Gerrard departs for Los Angeles Galaxy at season’s end.

But the former Sunderland player is just determined to help seventh-placed Liverpool climb the table.

“To be honest I haven’t thought about it at all because I don’t want it to affect what I’m doing for the team,” he said.

“It’s up to the manager next season to choose who he thinks is right to be captain, but my focus is on helping the team to be successful this season, and that means winning trophies, trying to get into the top four and winning as many games as we can. At the end of the season we’ll see where we’re at.”