Liverpool have agreed a £12m fee with Saudi Arabian side Al Ettifaq for the potential sale of captain Jordan Henderson.
The England international will reportedly earn £700,000 a week with the Saudi Pro League side, managed by his former Liverpool teammate Steven Gerrard.
The 33-year-old midfielder is yet to agree personal terms.
Henderson’s move to Saudi Arabia is controversial because he has been a vocal ally of the LGBT community in football.
He wore rainbow laces during England’s run to the Euro 2020 final and has repeatedly voiced his support for greater inclusivity in the game.
However, homosexuality is illegal and punishable by death in the Gulf state where he will now play football.
3LionsPride, a fan group for LGBT England supporters, said it was “beyond disappointed” after the deal was reached.
More from UK
They had earlier criticised Henderson as rumours of a move to Saudi Arabia circulated last week.
The group said in a statement: “Our joy for Mr Henderson when he scored against Ukraine in the Euros (quarter-final) was, in part, due to his kindness and his ‘lucky’ rainbow laces.
Advertisement
“A banner was created to commemorate the low bar he had achieved in being outspoken on our right to support England and show visibility on the pitch.
“If the rumours are true, then that banner will be consigned to the depths of history.”
Analysis: Many will be feeling betrayed by a man who seemed like a true ally
By Melissa Reddy, Sky Sports News senior reporter
The criticism will intensify. Jordan Henderson has been so vocal in his support, he felt like a true ally.
There was a community that looked to him, he was a beacon of light, a reference point for footballers, who took his lead and look to him for guidance on these matters.
He has been such an advocate for Rainbow Laces, he has been a football ally at the LGBT awards before, so there are so many things that just jar when it comes to this move.
Henderson will expect the criticism that is coming and will have thought long and hard about this. But I don’t think there is anything he can say or do to stop people from feeling betrayed, from feeling he folded at the first chance to make a stand.
There might be some who say this money changes his life, it doesn’t, it changes his legacy.
Henderson has been in Germany with Liverpool on their pre-season tour but was left out of manager Jurgen Klopp’s squad to face Karlsruhe in their first friendly on Wednesday.
He has made 491 appearances since signing for Liverpool from Sunderland for £20m in 2011 and skippered the side to Premier League and Champions League titles.
He has also won the FA Cup and two League Cups.
Henderson joins high profile names such as Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema and N’Golo Kante in agreeing to move to Saudi Arabia.
The man who served 14 years in jail for the murder of schoolboy Jimmy Mizen has been recalled to prison for breaching his licence conditions.
It follows reporting in The Sun newspaper that Jake Fahri, 35, was a drill rapper releasing music under the name TEN, who conceals his identity with a balaclava, and was played on BBC 1Xtra.
A Probation Service spokesperson said: “Our thoughts are with Jimmy Mizen’s family who deserve better than to see their son’s murderer shamelessly boasting about his violent crime.”
Jimmy’s father Barry told Sky News: “We’re not gloating or anything, in a way it’s quite sad.”
His son bled to death after Fahri threw an oven dish at him in a south London bakery on 10 May 2008.
The dish shattered on his chin and severed an artery in the schoolboy’s neck.
Fahri was 19 when he was given a life sentence in 2009 with a minimum term of 14 years and was released on licence in June 2023.
More from UK
His music was played on BBC 1Xtra less than 18 months later, the Sun reported, adding that DJ Theo Johnson named him an “up-and-coming star”.
Jimmy’s father earlier said he and his wife Margaret were “stunned into silence” when they were told about Fahri’s music, which often features violent themes.
In one song, which appears to reference Jimmy’s death, he raps about “sharpening” a blade.
“Judge took a look at me, before the trial even started he already knows he’s gonna throw the book at me,” the lyrics say.
Another track includes the lines: “See a man’s soul fly from his eyes and his breath gone… I wanted more, it made it less wrong. Seeing blood spilled same floor he was left on.”
The BBC has said the artist’s tracks do not feature on any BBC playlists, and that a track which appeared to reference Jimmy’s death had never been played on its channels.
A spokesman for the broadcaster added there were “no further plans to play his music”, adding: “We were not aware of his background and we in no way condone his actions.”
A Probation Service spokesperson said: “All offenders released on licence are subject to strict conditions. As this case shows, we will recall them to prison if they break the rules.”
Jimmy’s parents founded the Mizen Foundation after their son’s death. The charity helps young people in London who are escaping violence.
Mr Mizen said: “It appears that if he’s been recalled to prison, he must’ve breached his licence conditions
The man suspected of abducting Madeleine McCann won’t face any charges in the foreseeable future, a prosecutor has told Sky News.
German drifter Christian B, who cannot be fully identified under his country’s privacy law, is expected to be freed from an unrelated jail sentence this year while police in three countries continue to search for evidence against him.
Prosecutor Hans Christian Wolters said: “There is currently no prospect of an indictment in the Maddie case.
“As things stand, the accused Christian B’s imprisonment will end in early September.”
Madeleine, aged three, was asleep with her younger twin siblings in the family’s Portuguese rented holiday apartment before mother Kate discovered her missing at around 10pm on 3 May, 2007.
Her parents were dining nearby on the complex with friends and taking turns to check on all their sleeping children every half an hour.
Madeleine’s disappearance has become the world’s most mysterious missing child case.
Philipp Marquort, one of Christian B’s defence lawyers, welcomed the prosecutor’s pessimism about bringing charges.
He said: “This confirms the suspicions that we have repeatedly expressed, namely that there is no reliable evidence against our client.
“We regret that we have not yet been granted access to the investigation files. We have not yet been able to effectively counter the public prejudice arising from statements made by the prosecutor’s office.”
Christian B, 47, is in jail and coming to the end of his sentence for the rape of an elderly American woman in Praia da Luz, the Portuguese resort where Madeleine disappeared.
In October, he was acquitted on a series of rape and indecent assault charges after a non-jury trial in Germany, in which several references were made to his status as the main suspect in the Madeleine case.
The prosecutor said he was awaiting the court’s written judgment before launching an appeal against the acquittal. He believes the trial judges were biased against the prosecution.
If successful, he could apply for a new arrest warrant for Christian B to keep him in custody until a retrial with new judges.
He said: “We hope that the Federal Court of Justice will decide before the end of the accused’s imprisonment. If the Federal Court follows our legal opinion, we could apply for a new arrest warrant for the accused’s offences, so that the accused would then remain in custody beyond September 2025.
Mr Marquort said the defence team would oppose the prosecution’s appeal against the acquittal.
Prosecutor Mr Wolters has said in the past that he believes Madeleine is dead and that Christian B was responsible for her death. The suspect denies any involvement.
The case against Christian B is purely circumstantial; he’s alleged to have confessed to a friend that he abducted Madeleine, he has convictions for sex crimes against children, he was living in the area at the time, his mobile phone was close by when the young girl vanished and he re-registered one of his vehicles the next day.
The prosecutor won’t say what evidence he has to convince him Madeleine is dead, but he admitted he is still trying to find forensic evidence to link Christian B to the girl.
Jim Gamble, former head of the UK Child Exploitation and Online Protection centre, said he had expected the prosecutor to charge Christian B soon.
“He’s implied the whole way through that he has something more than the public are aware of,” he said.
“He’s made fairly definitive statements about whether Madeleine is alive or dead so you would expect their strategy to have been to charge him sooner rather than later.
“From what he’s said today I wonder if we’re witnessing the re-positioning of something to manage the disappointment that’ll come.”
Mr Wolters, who is based in Braunschweig, Lower Saxony, is investigating the case with the help of Portuguese police and detectives from Scotland Yard.
An investigation, led by the Surrey and Sussex Police Major Crime Team, is under way and inquiries remain ongoing, police said.
Senior Investigating Officer DCI Kimball Edey said specialist officers “are working around the clock to gather as much information as possible,” and that the force’s “thoughts are with the family and friends of the victims at this unbelievably difficult time”.