Dean Henderson had an impressive season with Sheffield United, and reportedly wants first-team football at Manchester United next season.
Henderson does not want to play supporting role to David de Gea next season, and either wants a first-team role or be sold, according to The Sun.
The young goalkeeper excelled during his two-year loan spell with Sheffield United, and is set to compete Jordan Pickford and Nick Pope to be England’s No. 1 choice for the Euro 2021.
What should Manchester United’s play with Dean Henderson be?
De Gea has been named United’s player of the year four times in six seasons, but a worrying number of mistakes have crept into his game over the past couple of seasons. In the last couple of seasons, the Spaniard has made seven errors which have led to goals in the Premier League, and only Martin Dubravka and Jordan Pickford (eight) have committed more.
On the other hand, Henderson’s has progressed well, and has done well despite only playing one full year in the Premier League.
The 23-year-old has been on loan at Sheffield United for the last couple of years; first, he helped them secure promotion, and then put in some solid displays in goal this past season to help them finish in the top half of the table.
With 13 clean sheets last season, Henderson is statistically as good as David De Gea. The big question is if he can replicate his form at Manchester United. He isn’t suited to the Red Devils’ playing style yet nor does he have the same level of understanding with the defenders as he does with his Sheffield United teammates.
Henderson’s time at Old Trafford will come soon. It might take a few years, but he has shown enough ability to be United’s number one ‘keeper, at least on paper. For now, he must show patience and maintain consistency for the next couple of years to earn his spot in the Manchester United team. Rushing him into the first-team could hamper his progress, should things go wrong.
A year of good form in the Premier League isn’t a good enough sample space to choose from. De Gea has gone through bad patches earlier in his career, and always bounced back. It is yet to be seen how Henderson reacts to a similar period.
Solskjaer trusts De Gea, who lest we forget, is still only 29, and has a lot more football left in him considering ‘keepers tend to get better with age.
Promoting Henderson to the first team would be a big gamble as United are yet to fully settle as a defensive unit, and replacing a key cog in De Gea with Henderson could backfire.
Stats via Transfermarkt