Manchester United goalkeeper Dean Henderson, who has spent the past two seasons on loan with Sheffield United, winning promotion from the Championship into the Premier League and doing well in his first season in England’s top flight, is reportedly stalling on a new contract at the Old Trafford club with Chelsea seemingly lurking in the background after stating their interested in the 23-year-old this summer. The Mirror has claimed that Frank Lampard’s side be ready to move for the player rated at £55 million this summer (who came up with that price I do not know).
Henderson has a contract with United which runs until the summer of 2022 so they have a favourable position in terms of the future of the player. However, if they end up loaning the player out for another season, he would have one year remaining and United would not want to make him the number one at the club only for him to walk away a year later. This summer, they will need to offer him better terms to get him to commit, no matter what happens this summer.
It has been suggested that the player could be loaned to Sheffield United for another season and the clubs manager, Chris Wilder seems confident of that happening. However, Chelsea’s interested in the player could change that, especially if United do not end up securing the player to a new contract, selling him this summer instead, which could be a massive mistake. The player is likely to be the heir to David De Gea at the club but there are mixed feeling as to whether the 23-year-old is ready for that role at this time.
Obviously, the player will need to make the leap into the first team at some stage. With reports of Sergio Romero being linked to Leeds United, who has won promotion back to the Premier League after 16 years out of the English top flight, there is a possibility that the player could be given a chance to stake his claim to the number one position at the club next season, which he might be happy with although there will be no guarantee that he will player week in and week out.
At Sheffield, he will play as the number one, despite the club making a goalkeeper signing this summer already, only missing matches against United, unless he is injured. Obviously, this would be better for his development but so would challenging for the number one shirt at United. Over the past season, Henderson has made a total of 40 appearances for the Blades, conceding 37 goals and keeping 14 clean sheets in all competitions. The player will obviously want to be assured that he will step into De Gea’s boots at United but with the player seemingly undroppable, despite questionable form this season, it is not something that Ole Gunnar Solskjaer will be able to guarantee.
The player will probably try his luck and might even use Chelsea’s interest in him to secure a better deal at United, then go out on loan again next season, re-evaluating his position next summer after signing a new contract at United this summer. However, that would be the ideal situation and football does not always give you that. We could see the player reject a new deal, either move to Chelsea permanently or go out on loan and sort his future out next summer. We shall see what happens.
Written by John Walker
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