Luke Chadwick reckons Dean Henderson could now have the chance to show he’s ready to be Manchester United’s number one.
The Reds lost first-choice goalkeeper David de Gea to injury when Southampton’s James Ward-Prowse scored a free-kick resulted in the Spaniard crashing off the post. It’s not yet clear how long De Gea might be out of action for but I don’t expect to see him involved tomorrow night against Paris Saint-Germain.
That proposes a big test for Henderson and it’s the level of experience he needs at Manchester United. For all the talk about how much he improved at Sheffield United, playing in Europe was a non-runner, so this is a chance he needs to take.
The 23-year-old came off the bench for the second half of the game at St Mary’s on Sunday, and performed well as United bounced back from a two-goal deficit to beat Southampton 3-2.
Both goals were conceded in the first half when De Gea was between the posts, but the finger shouldn’t be pointed at our first choice keeper for either of the goals.
Chadwick believes Henderson could force De Gea out of the team’s number one role if he gets a run in Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side.
The former United ace told CaughtOffside: “Without a doubt. I think Henderson is ready, he’s obviously a really confident lad, he came back to Man United to make that number one shirt his own.
“He didn’t have a huge amount to do against Southampton but he did his job and he’s proved in the past – with clean sheets in the League Cup – that he’s more than capable.
“I’m sure he’ll see an opportunity now if De Gea is out for a few games with an injury that he can cement that place and make it hard or even impossible for Ole to change the goalkeeper if De Gea gets fit again.”
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