Dean Henderson says he is set to return to Manchester United to fight for the goalkeeping position of the club against the club’s first-choice goalkeeper David de Gea.
The 23-year-old England international has been on loan at Sheffield United for two seasons where he performed impressively. He is set to reunite with his parent club, Manchester United, ahead of the 2020-2021 season.
When he returns to the club, he has 29-year-old Spain international to contend with for a regular shirt. Though David de Gea has recorded a couple of bad games in recent times at United, Dean Henderson knows that he had to work very hard before he would be able to dethrone the Spanish goalkeeper at the club.
Dean Henderson who started his football career at Manchester United at the age of 14 was almost on the verge of leaving the club at the end of his two seasons loan deal at Sheffield United. Amidst interest from Chelsea and other top European clubs, the 23-year-old England third-choice goalkeeper decided to extend his contract with United to 2025.
Henderson’s intention for making such a critical decision was to return to United to mount pressure on the Spanish goalkeeper until he gets the first choice nod from the club’s football manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
“It’s something I’ve always wanted. I’m so close now so I’m not going to give up,” Dean Henderson said.
“I respect David. He’s been a phenomenal servant for the football club. That’s something I aspire to be, to have a career like him at the club – so I’ll be going back in on the first day of pre-season working my socks off to get in that starting line-up.”
Just like how his position in the United starting line-up is not guaranteed so his chances in England national team. Though he just started getting invites from England’s coach Gareth Southgate in October 2019, Dean Henderson is already looking forward to dethroning the team’s top goalkeepers Jordan Pickford and Nick Pope.
“I’m working hard every single day to do what I can do to class as Gareth’s number one – but I know I’ve got to get past two very good goalkeepers,” Henderson noted.
Dean Henderson vs. David de Gea in stats 2019-2020 season
Since Dean Henderson believes that he has all it takes to win United’s first-choice goalkeeper position from David de Gea, it is eminent that one takes a critical look at how they both performed in the just concluded 2019-2020 season.
Dean Henderson spent the season in Sheffield United which is not comparable to Manchester United in terms of the caliber of players in their disposal and prestige. Yet, the 23-year-old England international was able to keep 14 clean sheets in 40 matches in all competitions. Before the entire season ended, Henderson conceded a total number of 37 goals, recording 1.55 points per game.
While David de Gea performed a bit similar to the Englishman’s performance. The 29-year-old Spanish goalkeeper was able to keep 15 clean sheets in 43 appearances. He however conceded a total number of 44 goals in all competitions which makes Henderson a better performer in terms of goals conceded in the season under review. At the end of the season, David recorded 1.63 points per game.
