Home » Manchester United must not make the mistake of selling Dean Henderson this summer – opinion

Manchester United must not make the mistake of selling Dean Henderson this summer – opinion

by Derick Kinoti


As Manchester United brace to get their summer business going in an effort to bolster Erik ten Hag’s squad ahead of next season, a number of positions require to be urgently addressed.

Last season, under Ten Hag’s astute leadership United achieved their primary objectives – winning a trophy and qualifying for the Champions League.

The season was largely a success but next term, expectations will rise and fresh targets will be set. For the Red Devils to adequately compete with the likes of Manchester City and Arsenal for top honours, the club must be smart in summer dealings. There is simply no room for mistakes.

It has been repeatedly mentioned that a striker and a midfielder top Ten Hag’s transfer wishlist. Only if funds allow will a goalkeeper be signed.

After all, it has been detailed that United will be extremely limited in terms of what they can spend in the transfer window. The club has to be mindful of its spending so as not to breach Financial Fair Play regulations. Couple this with United’s uncertain ownership situation as the takeover rages on and Ten Hag is all but walking a tightrope in terms of his transfer kitty.

Much has already been said about De Gea, his shortcomings and just how desperately he needs to be replaced for the team to realize its true potential. This season, the Spaniard’s mistake-strewn performances have cost United dearly.

Amidst United’s budgetary restrictions and the need to ensure De Gea is not an undisputed starter between the sticks next campaign, United cannot afford to get rid of Dean Henderson.

It has been relayed that the Englishman wants to stay at the City Ground, where United’s backup keeper spent a season on loan with Nottingham Forest. Forest have already approached United about the possibility of permanently securing Henderson’s services.

There is a willingness from all parties to get a deal over the line, but this will only be sanctioned once De Gea and the club have put pen to paper over fresh terms for the Spain international.

One cannot help but question the logic of selling Henderson with the prospect of signing a new goalkeeper not assured.

Henderson is hardly the best in the business or his craft, but at this point, he’s arguably a far better alternative to De Gea. At the very least, the United academy graduate deserves a genuine shot to dislodge his goalkeeping counterpart.

Henderson is much better at aspects of the game De Gea struggles with, including distributing the ball, playing with his feet, claiming crosses and initiating sweeping action.

It is useful to look at some statistics comparing the two.

Shot-stopping

De Gea conceded significantly more goals in the Premier League compared to Henderson. While De Gea let in 43 goals all season, Henderson conceded 31 goals. Admittedly, De Gea played more games than Henderson. De Gea was a starter in all of United’s 38 Premier League matches. Henderson only started 18. In the latter stages of the season, the arrival of Keylor Navas relegated Henderson to a place on the bench.

De Gea faced more shots on target against him compared to Henderson. The United number one faced 142 shots on target compared to Henderson, who faced 85. De Gea had a higher save percentage – 71.1 % to Henderson’s 65.9 %. So In this metric, De Gea has the upper hand.

Cross-claiming

With De Gea in goal, the opposition put in an astonishing 526 crosses into the box across the 38 Premier League games he played in. Out of these 526, De Gea only managed to stop a minimal 15 crosses. He managed a poor cross-stopping percentage success rate of 2.9%.

On the other hand, Henderson faced 291 crosses and stopped 20 of these – a cross-stopping percentage success rate of 6.9%

In this respect, Henderson is better than De Gea as the numbers show.

Sweeping action

The sweeping numbers also back my claim that Henderson is better in this phase of the game compared to De Gea. All season in the Premier League, De Gea made a total of 32 defensive actions outside the penalty area. Per 90 minutes, De Gea made 0.84% defensive actions outside the penalty area.

The average distance of De Gea’s sweeping action from his goal was 14.8 yards.

Henderson made just five fewer defensive actions outside the penalty area compared to De Gea in 20 less Premier League games.

The stats show that Henderson initiated sweeping action more times per 90 compared to De Gea – 1.50.

Henderson also travelled a longer distance away from his goal than De Gea. De Gea’s 14.8 yards pales in comparison to Henderson’s 15.6 yards.

In this metric, Henderson also beats De Gea.

Passing (Distributing)

The passing numbers also work in Henderson’s favour.

De Gea launched the ball 449 times to his teammates all season in the league. In this context, launches refer to passes that are over 40 yards. De Gea managed to successfully deliver 141 of these. He had a completion percentage of 31.4%.

Compare this to Henderson, who attempted 334 launches and successfully delivered 108 of his efforts. He managed a completion percentage of 32.3%.

Regarding passes, De Gea attempted a total of 1218 passes. He successfully executed 866 passes with a pass accuracy of 71.1%.

Henderson attempted a total of 671 passes and delivered 425 of these. He managed a pass success rate of 63.3%

In this respect, De Gea did better than Henderson, even though the United academy graduate proved to be a better ball launcher.

(De Gea and Henderson stats obtained from Fbref)

Conclusion

From this, it can be concluded that Henderson is a more modern shot-stopper. He is a better sweeper-keeper that does better in commanding his box and distributing the ball compared to De Gea.

Given the age difference, the stats tend to support the argument that the 26-year-old is an upgrade on the declining De Gea. The veteran goalkeeper is past his superb best. Even if De Gea’s current salary were to be halved to £187,500 in his new one, he would still be on almost double Henderson’s £100,000 (source: sportrac.com).

The only reason that justifies selling Henderson is that he has a sales value that the Spaniard does not due to being out of contract. If the money generated from his sale were channelled toward signing a top-class keeper such as Diogo Costa or David Raya – professionals who are experts in modern goalkeeping and who would meet the demands of Ten Hag’s football philosophy.

If this is not part of the transfer strategy, though, it makes sense to keep Henderson for at least one extra season.

On top of Henderson’s ambition, he is a proven Premier League goalkeeper, arising from his time with Forest and Sheffield United.

United simply cannot afford to let Henderson go and leave themselves burdened with De Gea as the only capable starting goalkeeper.

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