Jordan Henderson is the leader that Chelsea didn’t know they needed

Since Blueco and Todd Boehly’s involvement in Chelsea Football Club, their recruitment targets have typically been youngsters who they can develop by sending them out on loan to other clubs and after a couple of years, they would eventually be sold for profit, with not many getting any first-team experience at Chelsea.

Before the start of the 2026/27 season, in the four years that the British-based consortium has been involved with Chelsea, the average age of their signings was approximately 22 years and five months, with their squad the previous season being the youngest in the league, with an average of 23.4 years, with Tottenham and Sunderland being the joint second youngest with 24.8.

For some time now, Chelsea have been scrutinised about their team’s maturity and the lack of experience throughout their squad, leading to them losing games due to indiscipline, something that could have been avoided with an experienced figure.

But this season, the transfer strategy at Stamford Bridge has seemed to change with more of an emphasis on signing older, more experienced players to give them leadership and players to nurture the large group of talented youngsters Chelsea have at their disposal.

Maxence Lacroix, Emiliano Martinez, Jordan Henderson, and Danny Welbeck all joined the club in the summer, bringing an average age of nearly 33 and over 1,000 Premier League appearances to Chelsea, and all have mostly impressed in their short stints so far for Xabi Alonso’s side.

But the most unexpected one out of the four must be Jordan Henderson, with the 36-year-old only making three appearances for Chelsea so far, but already has two goals and an assist to his name, all coming against Bournemouth in a 5-1 win, and alongside Moises Caicedo has made a solid midfield partnership, solidifying Chelsea’s defence, only conceding one goal in the two games those two have played together.

But what is the most surprising thing about Henderson during his time with Chelsea is the work that the ex-Liverpool, Sunderland, and Brentford man has put in, running 23.9km in his last two games, being the one who covered the most in both matches.

This is while playing 90 minutes in both games against Bournemouth and Everton, highlighting that he could be a key figure for Chelsea in the upcoming run of games, showing there is still life in the old dog.

Whilst Chelsea have signed experienced players in the past, such as Raheem Sterling, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, and Kalidou Koulibaly, those three didn’t necessarily work out at Chelsea, but this season’s accquisitions have shown that you shouldn’t shy away from a strategy even if it didn’t work the first time.

This article first appeared on The Pride of London and was syndicated with permission.

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