The news of Liverpool splashing out on Sunderland midfielder Jordan Henderson should bring joy to fans of both teams.

For Liverpool, it means that Kenny’s Kingdom is having an ever-more English feel to it rather than the Spanish Armada that came under Rafael Benitez. While Sunderland have followed neighbours Newcastle’s suit and sold a young starlet for big money, which should serve them well in the long run.

It has felt that the minute Kenny Dalglish took over from Roy Hodgson more home-grown players began to grace the hallowed turf at Anfield. In addition to the household names of Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher, there appeared Jay Spearing, Martin Kelly and John Flanagan and with that the team were winning.

This English look, helped by Hodgson’s signing of Jonjo Shelvey, Paul Konchesky and Joe Cole (despite being flops) sits well with the Kop faithful especially if the team is winning with these home-grown names and not the likes of Xabi Alonso, Alvara Arbeloa and Fernando Torres. It seems now that Liverpool have struck a good balance of an English core with some foreign flair through Jose Reina, Raul Meireles and Luis Suarez.

On top of giving the youngsters a deserved run in the first team, Kenny has now splashed out twice on English talent, with £35m on Andy Carroll and £20m on Henderson. If they continue to show form, their hefty price tags will be quickly forgotten.

Sunderland won’t be complaining about the price. Slightly over the odds for a highly-rated yet still unproven player, this £20m will come in handy for Steve Bruce’s team. They acquired David Ngog as part of the deal, although hardly a world beater he will be decent back up to Asamoah Gyan up front and have now been linked with Darron Gibson, Wes Brown and John O’Shea. These players are Manchester United back ups but nobody can argue with their Premier League winners medals and they know what it is like to be in a winning dressing room, as does Bruce.

Bruce recognises Sunderland’s ambitions as slow progress and while some people would doubt selling young talent as progress, using that money wisely will be better in the long run.

For Henderson himself, the benefits remain to be seen. Sure, now he is part of a team that have a realistic chance of returning to the top four but there are question marks of where he will fit into the team fighting for a place with Gerrard, Meireles, a much-improved Lucas and Cole with a point to prove. This may not do his England chances much good.