Jordan Henderson can become one of the great international players if he starts to add more goals to his game , according to England manager Roy Hodgson . Hodgson believes that the Liverpool midfielder , who takes on Manchester United on Sunday and is tipped to take over the captaincy from Steven Gerrard next season , is only a step away from becoming an exceptional player , with the England manager delighted at Henderson 's progress after he was lambasted for picking Henderson for Euro 2012 . Hodgson said : 'His rise has been fairly meteoric as well . It was n't so long ago that I picked him for Euro 2012 and that decision was vilified . People were saying he was n't getting into the Liverpool team and he was being described as a waste of money . Roy Hodgson believes Jordan Henderson could become one of the great international players . The England manager wants Henderson to start adding more goals to his game . 'Then he went to the Under-21 tournament a year later and got an awful lot of criticism captaining the England Under-21 team . No-one had a good word to say about him . So his rise has been quite meteoric , even though he 's been round a long time . 'It 's only the last year that people are starting to say : `` Actually , this boy 's a good player '' . This lad has a lot of qualities . And of course I think , as time goes on , the responsibility he 's been given at Liverpool now by Brendan will help him . Liverpool 's success will rub off on him as well as he 's been an important part of it . ' I think we 'll see him get better and better and that 's what we hope . He ceratinly has enough qualities that I do n't think he needs to be hung up on goal-scoring . He 'll always be around the national team for the many other qualities he has . If he starts to add goals as well , then you 're talking about someone who is exceptional . ' Henderson has scored some crucial goals for Liverpool , including the winner at Swansea . Henderson ( right ) in training as Liverpool prepare to take on rivals Manchester United on Sunday . And though Hodgson hopes that Henderson does succeed Steven Gerrard as Liverpool captain , he says it wo n't make any difference to his role in the England team , where he is already considered one of the senior players . 'If Brendan does make him captain , great and we 'll all be happy . If he does n't it wo n't affect his leadership qualities as far as I 'm concerned . He 's in our leadership group . He 'll still be someone who needs to take on leadership responsibilities when he comes to England . If he does that , coming as Wayne Rooney does , as captain of his club team , that 's great . If he does n't because Brendan chooses someone else that does n't affect me . '
Roy Hodgson believes Jordan Henderson can become an England great . England manager described Henderson 's rise as 'meteoric ' Henderson has been in excellent form for Liverpool Sunday .