Former Liverpool chief Damien Comolli has spoken of signing Jordan Henderson from Sunderland.

Comolli has revealed how Henderson bounced back from that situation, the Liverpool chief having opened up on a conversation he had with then Sunderland chairman Niall Quinn.

He told The Times: "I had some tough negotiations with Niall Quinn [Sunderland chairman] at the time.

"We were stuck at £15 million and Liverpool's owners [Fenways Sports Group] told me I couldn't go higher.

"One evening, I was having a conversation with Niall on the phone and he was telling me about how when Sunderland had played Newcastle, Jordan took a free kick and the ball went straight into the stand.

"All the Newcastle fans were laughing at him. The next week Jordan took 300 free kicks in training - they had to stop him because he was about to get injured.

"But that made me think that, on top of everything Kenny [Dalglish, the Liverpool manager] and I had seen, there was the commitment and desire to improve.

"They are all the ingredients of a top player."