Scout Report – Dean Henderson
Manchester United, the record 20-time league winners, are rejuvenated once more and are the favourites to reclaim their lost throne this season under Jose Mourinho. The Red Devils have spent massively during the past few campaigns and have brought in several top names of world football in order to return to title contention that they last won back in 2013 during the final campaign of iconic Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson.
The Portuguese tactician, however, has relied on United’s academy prodigies as well and the likes of Marcus Rashford and Jesse Lingard are part of his plans at this prestigious football club. But the story is not quite similar for other youngsters, particularly custodian Dean Henderson, who has already entered the final year of his contract and the talks of an extension has stalled after failing to agree to terms with his current employers.
The 20-year-old goalkeeper has an uphill task to gain a place in first-team ahead of Spanish superstar David De Gea and Argentine international Sergio Romero. Young Portuguese keeper Joel Castro Pereira is a regular for the Red Devils U23s and also made his Premier League debut last season against Crystal Palace and featured in a couple of cup games as well this calendar year. Sam Johnstone is also an option who is currently enjoying a loan spell with Championship outfit Aston Villa under former United defender Steve Bruce’s guidance.
Henderson, currently on loan with League One side Shrewsbury Town, is not believed to make it to Mourinho’s squad, and is thus considering his options amidst interest from several top outfits including Arsenal and Chelsea – two big guns of Premier League football. He has represented England in several youth ranks including this year’s FIFA U20 World Cup which England eventually won and the custodian made one appearance in a group stage encounter against Guinea.
Henderson joined Manchester United’s youth ranks back in 2011 from Carlisle United and played some first-team football with lower league outfits like Stockport County and Grimsby Town on short-term loan deals during the past two campaigns ahead of his season-long loan move to Shrewsbury Town this term. The player, however, is doing exceptionally well for Shrewsbury, who are currently on top of the League One table.
The 6ft 3 tall custodian is good with his reflex, outing, as well as shot-stopping traits and has grabbed five clean-sheets already for the Shropshire outfit. Henderson holds a bright future but needs to feature regularly at the senior level to flourish furthermore. While he won’t be having that at Manchester, joining Arsenal or Chelsea won’t help him much either.
They have world-class custodians as well as backups available as replacements. The Englishman, however, has also been monitored by the likes of West Bromwich Albion, Southampton, and Watford who are quite respectable Premier League outfits and will hand him a better opportunity to break into their first-team squad.