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Scotland international Jack Hendry has defended his decision to move to the Saudi Pro League and revealed why he is currently considering extending his two-and-a-half-year stay with Al-Ettifaq. The ex-Celtic defender is one of Scotland’s most travelled footballers. He has represented clubs in Italy, Belgium and Australia during his career, but looks to have finally found a home 4000 miles away from his native Glasgow, having signed for the Saudi outfit in the summer of 2023. While the 30-year-old’s focus is firmly set on Scotland’s World Cup qualifiers against Greece on November 15 and Denmark three days later, Hendry has opened up on his life in Dammam, his enjoyment of the league - and why he could see his future at Al-Ettifaq despite criticism of the league and his contract expiring in the summer. “I am out of contract at the end of the season,” said Hendry. “I think the club here wants me to extend, but it is a long way away and there are a lot of things to come before then, so we will just see what happens. I do really enjoy it out here. I've had numerous offers since I've been here and chosen to stay. For me, it's just embracing whatever country I go to, learning the culture and most importantly, getting better as a player. I feel that these tests that I get each week only help. “It's a really good test week in, week out for me. Al Hilal has just brought in Darwin Nunez. They've got a young Brazilian striker, Marcos Leonardo. The midfield is really strong with Milinkovic-Savic and Ruben Neves. We are playing against Al-Shabab this weekend, who have Yannick Carrasco, Hamdallah, who's a Moroccan international, and they’ve brought in Yacine Adli from AC Milan and Josh Brownhill from England. “You're getting tested against international players. They might not be international players from the top nations, but they're still international-calibre players. It says a lot. They are working behind the scenes to extend that [my contract] or to put a proposal on the table that would make me stay longer.” Having already secured a World Cup playoff spot with wins over Greece and Belarus last month, Scotland head into their final two qualifying clashes hoping to secure the points that will seal an automatic pathway to next summer’s tournament in the USA, Mexico, and Canada. Hendry, who made his first competitive start for Scotland since Euro 2024 in last month’s 2-1 qualifying win over Belarus, believes the fact that head coach Steve Clarke has continued to select him for his squad regularly shows that the move has been far from detrimental to his international prospects, and is ready to repay him by helping Scotland end their 28-year exile from the World Cup. “Hopefully, the manager knows what I'm capable of and what I can bring to the group by now,” said Hendry. “I think touching on the Saudi Pro League, each week I'm playing against international players. That's even the teams in the lower parts of the league. Obviously, the higher you go, the bigger calibre the player gets. Maybe America doesn't have that as such because they can only have three designated players. “I think the calibre of players in this league is probably more substantial than the MLS. That's no fault of the MLS. The Saudi Pro League is getting stronger and stronger. You've got eight foreigners at each club, and each of them are internationals. Even our squad, we've changed a little bit since I first came out here. We've got two Slovakian internationals, a Costa Rican international and a South African international, plus a couple that play the Saudi national team. “I feel really good physically just now, probably the best that I have ever been, so I feel that I've got many years ahead of me. I'll try and keep pushing to be selected for each squad and try and play in each squad. Hopefully, this won't be my last opportunity, but you never know when it might be. You have got to go into these games thinking that it is going to be your last. That is the mindset that you have to have. “I think we've got to be really positive going into this camp, looking forward to what is possible, and do our best to try and build on previous performances and take confidence out of the results. We need a healthy competitive atmosphere around the group, and now we've certainly got that, and the boys who have played in my position have done extremely well, and the results have shown that. So all I can do is try and perform the best I can, and when I get opportunities, try and make it as difficult for the manager to not select me.” Sign up to The Scotsman’s daily football newsletter to get unrivalled Scottish football news and analysis - subscribe for free here.
