Henderson is an FA Cup winner
Henderson is an FA Cup winner
After Dean Henderson remained at Sheffield United for a second season-long loan, he immediately embarked on a pre-season beep test. He came first.
Henderson was not lording it, though. The Sheffield United manager, Chris Wilder, was absent from the pre pre-season and Henderson was on the blower to him immediately, imploring him to get the outfield players in ship-shape ahead of the club’s first Premier League campaign in 12 years.
That sounds like Henderson, a violet that does not shrink. It was in keeping with his bolshy personality that Henderson revelled in the post-match confrontation with Pep Guardiola at Wembley on Saturday. “You got your ten minutes,” he quipped, holding out both hands in case Guardiola hadn’t heard.
Joe Hart has a lot to answer for. Henderson, Jordan Pickford and Aaron Ramsdale, England’s three main goalkeepers, are all kindred spirits. They are vocal, expressive, impetuous and more cocky than confident.
Henderson, unlike Pickford and Ramsdale, now has a winner’s medal. His performance in the FA Cup final was career-defining. There was brilliance with the denials of Erling Haaland and Omar Marmoush but also that rashness when he carried the ball out for a corner and patted it away from outside his area. He fortuitously avoided expulsion.
Henderson travelled to Wembley with United for the League Cup final against Southampton in 2017. He was involved in the warm-up but back in his Paul Smith suit for the dressing room celebrations, clutching a bottle of beer. He had a taste for success, and got his hands on the trophy, but did not get a medal.
Nick Cox, the head of the Manchester United academy, was quick to congratulate Henderson at the weekend. “Well played Deano. Once a red always a red,” he posted on Twitter.
The United academy is quick to pat itself on the back. Their blueprint for Henderson was immaculate: loans at National League, League Two, League One, the Championship and in the Premier League before United gave consideration to installing him as their number one.
When Henderson joined Stockport County in early 2016, some of his teammates in the United academy derided him for stooping to non-league football. His adviser assured him they would not have a career in the game. Henderson was shortly recalled amid injury to David de Gea and on the bench at Shrewsbury Town in the fifth round of the FA Cup.
Shortly after he joined Grimsby Town later that year, Henderson informed the Grimsby Telegraph he intended to become the best goalkeeper in the world. He was 19.
Henderson pushed De Gea for top spot.
That fourth-tier loan stint was compelling enough for Shrewsbury Town to recruit him on loan in 2017. Henderson saved his first penalty at Wembley in the League One Play-off final.
Carelessly, United had allowed Henderson to enter the final months of his first professional contract in 2018. A bump in pay and a loan to Sheffield United safeguarded their investment. Luke Shaw’s sister, Nicole, was present for Henderson’s contract signing as part of work experience with the Stellar agency. It was the first of three new deals in successive years.
Jose Mourinho liked the cut of Henderson’s jib, so much so that he felt he was the best 'keeper at United when Mourinho was manager of Tottenham. United, though, were in the midst of negotiations for a new contract for De Gea in the summer of 2018. De Gea’s feeble performances for Spain at the World Cup in Russia marked the start of a gradual decline.
Even after De Gea renewed in September 2019, United had a loose succession plan: let Henderson get a top-flight season under his belt, integrate him into the squad and then promote him.
Henderson was given his chance in 2021.
United did not reckon on the indecisive Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, though. Solskjaer indicated Henderson would fly to Perth for the pre-season tour after his Under 21 European Championship commitments. The only United Henderson planned on linking up with was in Sheffield.
When Henderson returned to Manchester in August 2020, he was remunerated handsomely: a £100,000-a-week contract. Chelsea offered United £40million for him at one stage.
Suddenly, United had two ‘keepers on a combined weekly salary of nearly £500,000. De Gea’s form suffered amid credible competition in 2020-21 and several United players thought Henderson should have replaced him after their Champions League group stage ejection by RB Leipzig.
It took a pregnancy for Henderson to gain number-one status. De Gea’s partner, Edurne Garcia, was about to give birth in March 2021 and De Gea flew back to Spain for the arrival of his daughter, Yanay. Covid-19 protocols ensured De Gea would miss at least four games. Henderson was promised a six-match run: Crystal Palace, Manchester City, AC Milan at home, West Ham, Milan away and Leicester City.
He made just three appearances in 2021-22.
He kept clean sheets in four of the games and atoned for Milan defender Simon Kjaer’s late equaliser in the first leg with a decent denial of Zlatan Ibrahimovic at San Siro.
De Gea was out of quarantine and available for the Milan and Leicester ties but they were in the Europa League and FA Cup and Henderson was United’s cup goalie. After the March internationals, Henderson lined up in the home fixture against Brighton and De Gea started against Granada, clear confirmation Henderson was first choice.
The man-management rotation was mismanagement. De Gea earned a start in the Europa League final yet endured the worst possible penalty-shootout, conceding all 11 kicks and then having his kick saved in sudden death.
The pressure got to Henderson, too. Conscious that De Gea had a reputation for staying on his line, he charged out to the edge of the 18-yard box to punch away a cross but was beaten to it by Chris Wood. The Burnley striker scored but was flagged offside.
Henderson struggled to cope with the pressure.
After the season ended, Solskjaer informed Henderson he would be installed as number one. Henderson, who withdrew from England’s European Championship squad with a quad injury, attended the final, soaked up the pre-match atmosphere in Boxpark Wembley, contracted Covid and was laid low for two months. De Gea remained number one, regained form and Henderson played a meagre three games in 2021-22.
Henderson visited St James’ Park at the end of that season but Newcastle United lost their nerve and Burnley’s relegation made a permanent move for Nick Pope straightforward. Henderson moved to another newly-promoted team in Nottingham Forest.
United banked a derisory £15m fee, rising to £20m, from Palace in August 2023. Dougie Freedman, the club’s sporting director, was in the Old Trafford directors’ box for Henderson’s last matchday squad involvement with a club he joined at the age of 14 in 2011.
By that point, Henderson was so itching to leave United permanently he was loitering around the away dressing room in the tunnel.
Henderson has said he regrets a piqued interview he gave to Talksport upon his loan move to Forest. Some United fans bizarrely booed him when he returned with Palace in the League Cup last season. There was a myth that he leaked information when the finger of blame could be pointed at someone else who is long since gone.