DEAN HENDERSON HAS set his sights on dislodging David de Gea as Manchester United’s first-choice goalkeeper and becoming England’s number one this season.
Henderson has returned to Old Trafford after two impressive seasons on loan with Sheffield United.
The 23-year-old signed a new five-year contract with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side last week and believes he is capable of unseating Spain’s De Gea, who made a series of costly mistakes last term.
Henderson’s fine form also saw him drafted into Gareth Southgate’s England squad for Nations League matches against Iceland and Denmark.
He is competing against Jordan Pickford and Nick Pope in an attempt to make his England debut.
To star for England, Henderson needs to be playing regularly in the Premier League and he warned De Gea that he has not returned to Old Trafford just to sit on the bench.
“Look, 100 percent the aim is for me to play football next season and I don’t think I want to be not playing after last season, coming off a good season with momentum,” Henderson said.
“It wouldn’t be clever for me to sit around and not play football, I don’t think it would help any parties at all.
“Listen, for me with Man United, David De Gea has obviously been a great goalkeeper first and foremost for many years and he’s been phenomenal.
“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.”
Despite joining United’s academy at 14, Henderson, who learned his trade during loan spells at other clubs, is yet to make a first-team appearance for the club.
“I feel like a new signing at Man United. I haven’t been in the building for five years,” he said. “I’ve had a lot of time away.”
Henderson is well aware he cannot establish himself at international level if he remains behind De Gea at United.
Asked about potentially becoming first choice with England, Henderson replied: “Obviously I want to play for England and I want to play for Manchester United.
“So I’m just going to keep working hard every single day, overcoming my little challenges, my little goals and I’m sure one day I’ll get to where I want to be.”
This is a great opportunity to try something different and not have the usual opposition of the old school diehards who dont want change.
The idea of an open knockout championship sounds great I think and would give teams a shot of a dream run. If I’m from Kildare or Fermanagh, I would be much more motivated for championship as you go from 7 games (minimum) to an All Ireland final to 4 games..
@Lad: until those old school diehards stop getting voted onto county/provincial boards, provincial championships are here to stay.
@Lad: Would that not bring us back to why the qualifier system was introduced. 16 teams would only get 1 game. I’d be in favour of a champions league style group format, ran for 2 years, and then split into 2 separate championships, retaining that format. Have a system for promotion and relegation. It’s a lot of games for players though, which may make it a hard sell.
Open draw, try it once. Can u imagine if Kerry got Dublin in killarney in football or tipp v kilkenny in thurles..in first round ties..the buzz would be unique.
@jay bernard: would they allow supporters at the match?
Look, it’s best to just forget about the league, and I’m not just saying that because we may be relegated (‘ ‘) ….
@Logan Shepherd: “May”
@Logan Shepherd: please god forget about the league
@my name: Ah .. if it was May, I’d say go ahead and finish it, but it’s nearly the end of June :-)
Always thought brollys idea of 8 groups of 4 teams with top two play knockout for A all Ireland bottom two play in b all Ireland. Everyone gets 4 games and everyone has chance for a all Ireland. Entails for far more excitement
Yeah, what most of us have wanted for years… provincial championship in football is a joke, Ulster aside. You can’t keep the current provincial set up based on one province alone