Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers has talked up the "enormous respect" that new captain Jordan Henderson is afforded from the rest of his teammates.
England midfielder Henderson was officially appointed as Steven Gerrard's successor earlier this month after taking over the vice-captaincy last year.
Rodgers told the Liverpool Echo: "Jordan is taking over from an iconic figure who had been captain here a long time. He has enormous respect in the squad because of his quality - he's a role model.
"The idea of giving Jordan the vice-captaincy last year was to see if he could learn some of those traits off Steven who had captained the club incredibly well. I just thought Jordan would learn very well from that and on top of that add his own qualities to it.
"I think the players have really accepted it and responded well to it. I can see already how he's grown in terms of his stature. That's important because you can give some guys the captaincy and they fold with it. It can have a negative effect. But he's a young man who can cope with that."
Liverpool begin their new Premier League campaign with a visit to Stoke City.
Paul Gorst
