New deal on cards for De Gea, Henderson needs to play – and United’s youth ranks are stocked with keepers
By Andy Mitten
David de Gea is firmly back as Manchester United’s No 1. After sharing the role with Dean Henderson last season, the 31-year-old has returned to his very best form.
United believe he has done well, especially in terms of shot-stopping, and he is in line for a fifth player of the year title in his 11 seasons at Old Trafford.
The Spain international has 18 months left on a contract signed in 2019 that made him both the best-paid goalkeeper in the world and the second-highest-paid Spanish footballer (Andres Iniesta is on £22 million a year with Japan’s Vissel Kobe). United have the option of extending that and it is the norm for the club to do so, but while there are no live talks, De Gea will likely be offered a new contract later this year.
He is no longer a man looking to go back to play in Spain while still in his prime years, so there is unlikely to be a repeat of the intense speculation in the summer of 2015 that he was going to Real Madrid with Keylor Navas moving in the opposite direction.
United have consistently treated De Gea fairly, especially when he has been heavily criticised for his performances. In Manchester, he has found a safe refuge from home and some good friends, including compatriot and long-time team-mate Juan Mata.
He is also in illustrious company on United’s all-time appearance chart. With 470, he is joint-15th with one George Best. Brian McClair’s 471 is next in his sights ahead of the home game today against Southampton. Among goalkeepers, only Alex Stepney (539) has played for the club more times than De Gea.
None of this has helped Henderson, a proven Premier League-quality goalkeeper after his time on loan at Sheffield United, whose drive and ambition took him to that stage and marked his rise after goalkeeping coaches Eric Steele and Alan Fettis brought him to Old Trafford from the youth ranks at Carlisle United.
Since coming to the club aged 14, all Henderson has wanted is to become United’s first-choice goalkeeper.
It will hurt him if he has to leave, especially as he was considered No 1 at times last season, when he started 25 club games to De Gea’s 36, but with the Spaniard now settled as No 1 again, what choice does he have? He turns 25 next month and is too good to be on a bench every week.
Henderson has been unlucky after he caught COVID-19 in pre-season and was not fit to play in the first month. He was the main reason De Gea had to improve as his performances, both in training and in games, had dipped before Henderson came back to the club in the summer of 2020 after two hugely successful seasons helping Sheffield United win promotion, then push for Europe, before finishing ninth.
Having also won his sole England cap so far in November 2020, Henderson could be forgiven for thinking that promises were made to him about his United future that have turned out to be empty.
If he does end up leaving, United will likely go for a new No 2 keeper.
Tom Heaton, their 35-year-old third-choice, was in United’s youth system two decades ago, getting loaned out to no fewer than six clubs before leaving in 2010 to join Cardiff City on a free transfer. Following spells with Bristol City, Burnley and Aston Villa that brought over 30 England call-ups and three caps, he came back to the club at the start of this season on a two-year contract with the option of an extra year.
Heaton, who finally made his United first-team debut in December’s Champions League dead rubber at home to Young Boys as a second-half replacement for Henderson, is popular among the players and considered a good goalkeeper by his coaches. But at his age, his role is to support the goalkeepers around him, similar to Lee Grant, who arrived in 2018 but has only ever played twice, most recently in November 2019. Grant turned 39 last month and is set to be out of contract at the end of this season.
Matej Kovar, a 21-year-old Czech signed in January 2018, was working with the first team until a deadline day loan to League One side Burton Albion last month that’s designed to satisfy his wish to play league football. He needs to experience more real games after spending the first half of the 2020-21 season in that same division with Swindon Town, making 21 appearances.
Kovar follows Kieran O’Hara, who left United for Burton in the summer of 2020 following a loan spell there the previous season before moving to Fleetwood Town, again in League One, last month.
Few goalkeepers who start out at United end up becoming the club’s first choice, but all appreciate the grounding, the facilities and the experience of working with some of the best players in the world. Sam Johnstone excelled on loan for Aston Villa before a permanent move to West Bromwich Albion and has been in four England squads since leaving Old Trafford in summer 2018.
With Kovar about to go out on loan, Northern Ireland Under-19 international Dermot Mee moved up to train with the first team at Christmas. Doing this means the 19-year-old gets to work with United’s biggest names each day, but the flip side is he misses out on loan moves and real football. Non-League sides Lancaster City and Matlock Town and Scottish giants Celtic’s reserve team have all been interested in borrowing Mee.
Ondrej Mastny is another 19-year-old, also from the Czech Republic, who has had a lot of injuries but is considered to be talented. Radek Vitek is yet another from that country, signed in summer 2020. Compared to Henderson in terms of his drive and ambition, his style has echoes of goalkeeping greats Peter Schmeichel and Oliver Kahn. Don’t get carried away though, he is just 18.
Nathan Bishop, signed from then League One side Southend United in January 2020, is spending this season on loan at League Two Mansfield Town, who have charged into the promotion mix after a difficult start to the season that had them joint-bottom in October. The 22-year-old has been an ever-present for manager Nigel Clough, missing only their EFL Trophy games.
Nathan Bishop has yet to miss a League Two start on loan to promotion hopefuls Mansfield (Photo: Andrew Kearns – CameraSport via Getty Images)
Few are teen prodigies like De Gea was at Atletico Madrid and these loans are essential for the development of goalkeepers.
“You have to go on loan, to make mistakes, grow up, and learn about football away from the bubble of a club like United,” Johnstone told The Athletic about his time at Scunthorpe United as a teenager in the 2011-12 season. “I’d get dressed at the club and then drive to a field to train in my kit.
“You play with lads who need to win because they need the money to support their family, lads who look at you as an 18-year-old coming from Man United and who don’t really give you the time of day because they think you are big-time, even though you don’t think you are. I played OK, but knew I could do better — OK isn’t good enough.”
United eventually sold Johnstone to West Brom for £6.5 million. He jokingly maintains he should have cost more, but it was a tidy profit for the club.
Goalkeeping coach Richard Hartis, who came back to the club in 2019 after leaving with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer when he quit his role in charge of United’s reserves to manage Norwegian side Molde eight years earlier, will be thinking through all of these issues without knowing who the first-team manager will be next season.
Henderson, who is under contract until 2025, received interest from Newcastle United in January, but their head coach Eddie Howe has denied that his No 1 Martin Dubravka was part of a potential swap deal. Ralf Rangnick played Henderson against Middlesbrough in last week’s FA Cup tie, but, like De Gea in last year’s Europa League final, he failed to save any of the penalties in an extended shootout that ended in defeat.
If Henderson leaves, it is logical that United will shop for a new back-up to De Gea. For years, that was Sergio Romero, Argentina’s first-choice goalkeeper at the time and considered by United fans to be the best No 2 around. The 34-year-old, who United stopped from joining Everton last summer, is now being kept busy with Serie A relegation candidates Venezia.
De Gea, who lost his place as Spain’s No 1 after a poor 2018 World Cup final, has long been adamant that he wants to win the league again at United. He told subsequent signings, including his friend Mata, he will never forget the scenes of fans hanging off five levels of scaffolding as they celebrated on Deansgate after the club’s most recent title in 2013.
Mata et al dreamed of replicating it. It has not come close to happening, however, and the fact De Gea has been voted United’s player of the year in half of the completed seasons since shows you how busy he has been. That he is best positioned to add a fifth award in May also tells you all you need to know about where the club are at currently.
It was not supposed to be like this, but imagine how much worse it would have been without him.
New deal on cards for De Gea, Henderson needs to play – and United’s youth ranks are stocked with keepers
By Andy Mitten
David de Gea is firmly back as Manchester United’s No 1. After sharing the role with Dean Henderson last season, the 31-year-old has returned to his very best form.
United believe he has done well, especially in terms of shot-stopping, and he is in line for a fifth player of the year title in his 11 seasons at Old Trafford.
The Spain international has 18 months left on a contract signed in 2019 that made him both the best-paid goalkeeper in the world and the second-highest-paid Spanish footballer (Andres Iniesta is on £22 million a year with Japan’s Vissel Kobe). United have the option of extending that and it is the norm for the club to do so, but while there are no live talks, De Gea will likely be offered a new contract later this year.
He is no longer a man looking to go back to play in Spain while still in his prime years, so there is unlikely to be a repeat of the intense speculation in the summer of 2015 that he was going to Real Madrid with Keylor Navas moving in the opposite direction.
United have consistently treated De Gea fairly, especially when he has been heavily criticised for his performances. In Manchester, he has found a safe refuge from home and some good friends, including compatriot and long-time team-mate Juan Mata.
He is also in illustrious company on United’s all-time appearance chart. With 470, he is joint-15th with one George Best. Brian McClair’s 471 is next in his sights ahead of the home game today against Southampton. Among goalkeepers, only Alex Stepney (539) has played for the club more times than De Gea.
None of this has helped Henderson, a proven Premier League-quality goalkeeper after his time on loan at Sheffield United, whose drive and ambition took him to that stage and marked his rise after goalkeeping coaches Eric Steele and Alan Fettis brought him to Old Trafford from the youth ranks at Carlisle United.
Since coming to the club aged 14, all Henderson has wanted is to become United’s first-choice goalkeeper.
It will hurt him if he has to leave, especially as he was considered No 1 at times last season, when he started 25 club games to De Gea’s 36, but with the Spaniard now settled as No 1 again, what choice does he have? He turns 25 next month and is too good to be on a bench every week.
Henderson has been unlucky after he caught COVID-19 in pre-season and was not fit to play in the first month. He was the main reason De Gea had to improve as his performances, both in training and in games, had dipped before Henderson came back to the club in the summer of 2020 after two hugely successful seasons helping Sheffield United win promotion, then push for Europe, before finishing ninth.
Having also won his sole England cap so far in November 2020, Henderson could be forgiven for thinking that promises were made to him about his United future that have turned out to be empty.
If he does end up leaving, United will likely go for a new No 2 keeper.
Tom Heaton, their 35-year-old third-choice, was in United’s youth system two decades ago, getting loaned out to no fewer than six clubs before leaving in 2010 to join Cardiff City on a free transfer. Following spells with Bristol City, Burnley and Aston Villa that brought over 30 England call-ups and three caps, he came back to the club at the start of this season on a two-year contract with the option of an extra year.
Heaton, who finally made his United first-team debut in December’s Champions League dead rubber at home to Young Boys as a second-half replacement for Henderson, is popular among the players and considered a good goalkeeper by his coaches. But at his age, his role is to support the goalkeepers around him, similar to Lee Grant, who arrived in 2018 but has only ever played twice, most recently in November 2019. Grant turned 39 last month and is set to be out of contract at the end of this season.
Matej Kovar, a 21-year-old Czech signed in January 2018, was working with the first team until a deadline day loan to League One side Burton Albion last month that’s designed to satisfy his wish to play league football. He needs to experience more real games after spending the first half of the 2020-21 season in that same division with Swindon Town, making 21 appearances.
Kovar follows Kieran O’Hara, who left United for Burton in the summer of 2020 following a loan spell there the previous season before moving to Fleetwood Town, again in League One, last month.
Few goalkeepers who start out at United end up becoming the club’s first choice, but all appreciate the grounding, the facilities and the experience of working with some of the best players in the world. Sam Johnstone excelled on loan for Aston Villa before a permanent move to West Bromwich Albion and has been in four England squads since leaving Old Trafford in summer 2018.
With Kovar about to go out on loan, Northern Ireland Under-19 international Dermot Mee moved up to train with the first team at Christmas. Doing this means the 19-year-old gets to work with United’s biggest names each day, but the flip side is he misses out on loan moves and real football. Non-League sides Lancaster City and Matlock Town and Scottish giants Celtic’s reserve team have all been interested in borrowing Mee.
Ondrej Mastny is another 19-year-old, also from the Czech Republic, who has had a lot of injuries but is considered to be talented. Radek Vitek is yet another from that country, signed in summer 2020. Compared to Henderson in terms of his drive and ambition, his style has echoes of goalkeeping greats Peter Schmeichel and Oliver Kahn. Don’t get carried away though, he is just 18.
Nathan Bishop, signed from then League One side Southend United in January 2020, is spending this season on loan at League Two Mansfield Town, who have charged into the promotion mix after a difficult start to the season that had them joint-bottom in October. The 22-year-old has been an ever-present for manager Nigel Clough, missing only their EFL Trophy games.
Nathan Bishop has yet to miss a League Two start on loan to promotion hopefuls Mansfield (Photo: Andrew Kearns – CameraSport via Getty Images)
Few are teen prodigies like De Gea was at Atletico Madrid and these loans are essential for the development of goalkeepers.
“You have to go on loan, to make mistakes, grow up, and learn about football away from the bubble of a club like United,” Johnstone told The Athletic about his time at Scunthorpe United as a teenager in the 2011-12 season. “I’d get dressed at the club and then drive to a field to train in my kit.
“You play with lads who need to win because they need the money to support their family, lads who look at you as an 18-year-old coming from Man United and who don’t really give you the time of day because they think you are big-time, even though you don’t think you are. I played OK, but knew I could do better — OK isn’t good enough.”
United eventually sold Johnstone to West Brom for £6.5 million. He jokingly maintains he should have cost more, but it was a tidy profit for the club.
Goalkeeping coach Richard Hartis, who came back to the club in 2019 after leaving with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer when he quit his role in charge of United’s reserves to manage Norwegian side Molde eight years earlier, will be thinking through all of these issues without knowing who the first-team manager will be next season.
Henderson, who is under contract until 2025, received interest from Newcastle United in January, but their head coach Eddie Howe has denied that his No 1 Martin Dubravka was part of a potential swap deal. Ralf Rangnick played Henderson against Middlesbrough in last week’s FA Cup tie, but, like De Gea in last year’s Europa League final, he failed to save any of the penalties in an extended shootout that ended in defeat.
If Henderson leaves, it is logical that United will shop for a new back-up to De Gea. For years, that was Sergio Romero, Argentina’s first-choice goalkeeper at the time and considered by United fans to be the best No 2 around. The 34-year-old, who United stopped from joining Everton last summer, is now being kept busy with Serie A relegation candidates Venezia.
De Gea, who lost his place as Spain’s No 1 after a poor 2018 World Cup final, has long been adamant that he wants to win the league again at United. He told subsequent signings, including his friend Mata, he will never forget the scenes of fans hanging off five levels of scaffolding as they celebrated on Deansgate after the club’s most recent title in 2013.
Mata et al dreamed of replicating it. It has not come close to happening, however, and the fact De Gea has been voted United’s player of the year in half of the completed seasons since shows you how busy he has been. That he is best positioned to add a fifth award in May also tells you all you need to know about where the club are at currently.
It was not supposed to be like this, but imagine how much worse it would have been without him.
