Gary Neville has questioned whether Jordan Henderson may have played in his final World Cup for England after the Three Lions' quarter-final exit on Saturday evening.
Trusted to start by Gareth Southgate in the round-of-16 showdown with Senegal and last-eight clash with France, Henderson led by example alongside Declan Rice and Jude Bellingham in the midfield department but could not prevent England crashing out of the competition.
By the time the next World Cup comes around in 2026, Henderson will be 36 years old and may well be an unlikely starter at that stage of his career. With this thought in mind, Neville is unsure as to whether or not the Liverpool captain will be picked for the next squad - a decision that could be made by Henderson himself or at the discretion of the national team manager.
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"Jordan Henderson and Kyle Walker will wake up this morning, it may even have hit them last night, [thinking] that I might not be there again," Neville told Sky Sports on Sunday morning. He added: "That is difficult and tough to take that sometimes. I remember being in 2006 and feeling that. The younger players will think 'Right, let's come back and do it next year'. But the older players and manager will be thinking will that opportunity exist again?"
The very same question was put to Henderson ahead of England's opening World Cup match versus Iran, enabling the former Sunderland man to provide clarity on his stance in relation to this subject. "Oh, wow! Are you chucking that out there?" Henderson joked to ITV reporter Gabriel Clarke after hearing the words 'This will probably be your last World Cup'.
"I've seen a lot of 36-year-olds playing World Cups, so no reason why I couldn't," continued Liverpool's No.14. "To be honest, you never know when your last World Cup is. Even when you're 21, 26 or whatever age, you never quite know when because they don't come around very often. Every time I've played in a World Cup, I have treated it like it could be my last."
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