LIVERPOOL captain Jordan Henderson has revealed how former manager Brendan Rodgers once reduced him to tears before a game.

The England man arrived on Merseyside in the summer of 2011, signing from Sunderland for £20million.

Kenny Dalglish was the Liverpool boss at the time but he was sacked at the end of the 2011/12 season.

Rodgers came in as his successor and Henderson was swiftly linked with a move to Fulham.

And Henderson has now revealed the conversation he had with the Northern Irish coach as it was confirmed he would not have many opportunities to play in the 2012/13 campaign.

Speaking to Rio Ferdinand on BT Sport, he said: "I can remember it like it was yesterday.

"It was just before we played Hearts at Anfield, and we had a game on the night.

"I had a conversation with Brendan at the hotel the day of the game, and to be fair to Brendan he sort of gave me the option. It was more the club that was willing to let me go.

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"Brendan said ‘listen, it’s down to you, you’re not going to be starting as much as what you’d have liked but I’ll try to help you improve on what I need you to improve on. You’re still young, and if you do that then maybe you get more game time as time goes on’.

"So basically I went back to my room, cried a little bit and was devastated really, but from that moment on I just tried to… It wasn’t really an option for me to leave because I hadn’t been at the club very long, and I’d worked extremely hard to get there.

"I said straight away ‘listen, I ain’t going anywhere, I’ll do everything I can to get in your team and I’ll prove people wrong'.

"From that moment, every day in the gym I’d give everything, every day on the training pitch I’d give everything. Just focus on myself, how I can improve, how I can be better."

Henderson only started 16 Premier League games that season as Steven Gerrard, Lucas Leiva and Joe Allen were selected ahead of him.

But the following year – when Liverpool narrowly missed out on the title to Manchester City – Henderson started 35 of the Reds' 38 league matches.

And since then he has gone from strength to strength, accumulating more than 400 appearances for the club.

But Henderson has never forgotten how Rodgers helped him in those early years.

"Brendan helped us a lot tactically [and] I really think back then I could improve a lot tactically," he added.

"I was good at box-to-box, I was very physical and decent technically, but the tactical elements I wasn’t really taught that much, especially of what Brendan wanted.

"He brought me into his office, sat me down, showed where he wanted us with and without the ball.

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"I felt that helped massively, helped me understand football even more, and from that moment on I just grew in confidence as time went on."

Henderson won Liverpool's sixth European Cup in 2019 following a 2-0 win over Tottenham in Madrid.

And he then lifted the club's first league title in 30 years in 2020 after a sensational season saw them cruise to Prem glory.

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