Jordan Henderson given green light for return to high-flying boyhood club Sunderland

Sunderland skipper Dan Neil has given the club the green light to bring England and legend home.

The former Anfield skipper is reportedly unsettled at Ajax this season and open to returning to England and his hometown club. Neil says “squad morale is through the roof” after stretching their lead at the top of the Championship with three wins in seven days including this dominant defeat of Oxford.

Henderson, 34, started his career in the on Wearside and could add vital experience to Regis Le Bris’s “fearless” side packed with teenagers including Jobe Bellingham and Chris Rigg. His spell with Saudi Arabia side Al-Ettifaq ended abruptly, and he is captaining the Dutch giants.

Neil, who once sought advice from Henderson while on England youth duty, said: “He is a top quality player. He can come back here if he wants! I’d be a bit nervous telling him what to do!

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“The changing room is buzzing, the squad morale is through the roof. We are on a momentum wave at the minute.

“It has been fearless and everyone trying to build their careers for a few years now. Jack Clarke, Amad Diallo, we are a young team and fearless but also mature for a young team. We are fearless because we will try things in attack, but mature in terms of when the game needs it we can change.

“We are delighted with the start. We go into games thinking we will take three points and that’s a good mindset to be in.

“But…devlis advocate, that momentum can crash. Last year we were sixth beating Preston New Year’s Day, and finished 17th. So the wave on the up is unbelievable, but when it goes down it is hard to turn around.

“Even turning it around in pre-season has not been easy. We worked on fundamentals, a new playing identity, everyone knows their jobs on the pitch and has bought into it brilliantly. There is no ‘I’s in the team.”

Goals from Bellingham and Wilson Isidor made it nine wins in 12 league games and Neil added: “It is very early on, a quarter of the season, so if we can do this three times over, we can speak about where we want to go in the run in.”

Oxford boss Des Buckingham saw Oxford’s best attack ruined when the pitch sprinklers came on in the first minute. He admitted: "We're finding the physical demands at this level are higher and because it's quicker you get less time on the ball."

" are a good young team, with energy and skill. It's horrible to be on the end of it."

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