You'll have plenty to celebrate when you subscribe to the Liverpool FC newsletter Sign me up Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Invalid Email

When Jordan Henderson was summoned to Brendan Rodgers’s office after training at Melwood last Friday he had no idea what was on the agenda.

What followed was the proudest moment of the dynamic midfielder’s blossoming Liverpool FC career.

This wasn’t a tactical discussion but a job offer as his manager revealed that he wanted him to become the club’s new vice-captain.

Rodgers didn’t need an answer straight away, telling Henderson he could go away and consider the added demands of taking on the role.

But the 24-year-old insisted there was nothing to consider and instantly embraced the challenge.

“I didn’t have any sense it was coming,” Henderson said. “The gaffer just took me in and told me that he wanted to give it to me.

“I didn’t have to think too hard about it. It was an amazing feeling.

“It is a huge honour to be vice-captain of Liverpool Football Club and a huge honour to be given the extra responsibility by the gaffer.

“There were no special celebrations when Brendan told me. I’m the type of person to just get on with it.

“I know how big the role is as this is a very special club but it is one that I am looking forward to take on.”

Rodgers described Henderson as his side’s “moral conscience” and the appointment received a ringing endorsement from skipper Steven Gerrard.

“I’m sure Jordan will be the main man and club captain in a few years when I’ve gone,” Gerrard said.

“He epitomises everything a captain is – he works hard both on and off the pitch, he’s well liked in the dressing room, he leads by example and let’s not forget, he’s a top player as well.”

Those words meant a lot to Henderson, who has spent the past three years watching and learning from the club’s legendary talisman.

Now he finds himself cast as Gerrard’s deputy and the long-term heir to the Liverpool armband.

“Stevie just said congratulations to me and told me that I had worked hard and deserved it,” he said.

“That was a good feeling coming from not only the best leader Liverpool and England have had, but the best player too.

“Stevie is the perfect role model for any player to look up to with the way he conducts himself. I try my best to learn from him every single day.

“This is my fourth season here and he has helped me a lot on and off the pitch.

“He has been a massive influence on my career. I look up to him as a person and a player. I have got no better man to learn from.

“He’s a genuinely nice person and everything he says and does is about the team, not about him.”

With Liverpool in the middle of a hectic schedule of seven matches in the space of 21 days, Henderson’s first taste of the captaincy is likely to come sooner rather than later.

But ahead of today’s clash with West Ham United at Upton Park he insists it’s far too early to be talking about the prospect of being the Reds’ next permanent skipper.

“I’m not thinking that far ahead as a lot can change in football very quickly and I’m sure it will be a good few years yet,” he said.

“Stevie is looking as fit as a fiddle and you can see how much of an impact he’s having. I think he could play every game this season.

“If that time comes I’ll do my best, not only for my teammates but also for the supporters.

“I will just try and look to support Stevie in whatever way I can. It won’t change anything for me. I will just keep doing what I have been doing and enjoy it.

“I always try and help my teammates as best that I can. Sometimes I get a little bit frustrated but there is never anything personal in it.”

With the vice-captaincy followed by his first taste of Champions League football in the hard-fought 2-1 win over Ludogorets, it’s been some week for Henderson.

It’s a far cry from the struggles he endured during his first season with the Reds following a £16million move from boyhood club Sunderland in the summer of 2011.

That price tag – coupled with the sky-high expectation levels at Anfield – weighed heavily on his young shoulders.

When Rodgers took over in 2012 Henderson found himself down the pecking order and he was offered the chance to join Fulham as part of the ultimately doomed deal to sign Clint Dempsey.

However, rather than throw in the towel, Henderson opted to stay put and vowed to force his way back into the manager’s plans.

Now a pivotal and commanding midfield presence for both club and country, his refusal to admit defeat has paid off handsomely.

“It was a low point for me personally,” he said.

“It was hard to take but the manager was honest with me. He said if I wanted to play regular football I could go, but he said if I decided to stay he would improve me as a footballer.

“I worked on my game when I wasn’t playing as much and looked at a lot of video analysis.”

Henderson says he owes a debt of gratitude to Rodgers for helping him to fulfil his potential.

“The manager promised that he would improve me and I have got a lot to thank him for because I feel he has done that,” he said.

“Tactically, I needed to improve. That was a big thing when he came in.

“He said I needed to improve my tactical awareness, that it needed to be better in games.

“I think it has improved but I try and improve every single day on the training field. I watch every game back to see what I can do better and the manager helps me with it. In big games, tactics come into it a lot.

“Different formations, different tactics, different counterattacks, I’ve learnt a lot and I am continuing to learn.

“Playing in the Champions League will help improve me further. It was tough the other night but the most important thing is that we got the job done.”

With Gerrard stepping up in the 93rd minute to settle the contest with an ice-cool spot-kick, there was another lesson for Henderson in the art of leadership.

“Absolutely,” he added. “The pressure you’re under, the Kop singing your name, and Stevie slots it into the corner, no problem. He was never going to miss.”