Liverpool's talismanic skipper was a 200/1 shot before the season started.
Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson is now the 6/4 favourite to win the PFA Player of the Year award.
Priced way out at 200/1 at one point before the season kicked off, the 29-year-old’s price has steadily crashed as he leads by example in Liverpool’s meteoric title charge.
Even last month, Henderson was a 33/1 shot in this market with some bookmakers, but his form has been scintillating since.
Stats experts WhoScored highlighted that the 2-1 victory at Wolves last week was the first league game that Jordan Henderson had started, scored and registered an assist since December 2015. He’s now achieved that twice in three games.
In footballing terms, Henderson’s rise to the top has been a rags to riches tale. Much-maligned when he arrived at the club, his stoic nine-year stint has finally come good.
Hendo’s big money move to Liverpool from Sunderland back in 2011 was seen by many to epitomise the sub-standard level the Reds had reached. Signed by a club legend, but unveiled alongside the likes of Charlie Adam and Stewart Downing, it appeared a picture of mediocrity.
A joint-lowest Premier League finish that season since 1994 meant a League Cup victory wasn’t enough to save Kenny Dalglish’s job, and Henderson found himself part of a crop of chronic under performers.
The team’s stuttering and the hefty weight of Henderson’s £20million price tag acted as a headwind from the off. After Dalglish’s sacking, he was nearly offloaded by a fresh-faced Brendan Rodgers.
The Anfield faithful would have laughed you out of Merseyside if you’d suggested he’d be tipped to scoop the PFA Player of the Year award nearly 10 years later.
Resisting a move away and muscling into a regular starting spot, Henderson was controversially handed the captain’s armband following Steven Gerrard’s departure in 2015.
Since then, it’s been a meandering ascent to the top, but reaching two Champions League finals and winning the competition last year has firmly secured Henderson’s reputation.
While he’s had the recognition of Liverpool fans for a few seasons now, it’s his performances in this campaign that have turned the heads of his toughest critics.
He jokes with reporters in post-match interviews as time after time he regurgitates “we’re just thinking about the next game”, but Jurgen Klopp has said himself that by playing as if threatened by relegation, Henderson has set the standard for this Liverpool side.
22 points clear at the top of the table and dismantling record after record in their path, that never-complacent mentality continues to pay dividends.
Mo Salah (16/1) and Sadio Mane (10/3) steal plenty of headlines and last year’s runaway Player of the Year winner Virgil van Dijk (11/1) remains metronomic at the back, but it’s the captain who is this year’s pick of the bunch.
Once the embodiment of Liverpool’s decline, Henderson is now lauded as the secret to their success.
Oddschecker football writer Ryan Elliott: "Once the figure of fun at Anfield, Jordan Henderson is now threatening to become a serial trophy-winning captain at Liverpool.
"While the abundance of flair within Liverpool's ranks have often left pundits and punters alike open-jawed, it's Henderson's dirty work in midfield, as well as his undeniable leadership qualities, which is finally getting the recognition it deserves.
"The Liverpool skipper already has a trademark celebration when it comes to raising silverware aloft, and it's only a matter of weeks before we see him lift the big one."
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