What can Nottingham Forest expect from Dean Henderson?

Dean Henderson’s career seems to have stalled after a somewhat uneventful season at Manchester United in 21-22, but he could hit the reset button as a loan move to Nottingham Forest nears completion. 

The 25-year-old Englishman failed to make any significant impact in the 21/22 season, a big part of which was David de Gea’s return to form. The Spaniard’s displays in goals were the only positive in an otherwise underwhelming domestic campaign for Manchester United where they went through three managers before hiring Erik ten Hag at the end of the season.

Henderson was hugely impressive in his first-team minutes during project restart in the 20/21 season and was also promising as the number one keeper between the sticks at Sheffield United under Chris Wilder. Since then however, his career has stagnated and no doubt a move to Nottingham Forest will be a chance for him to re-establish himself as one of England’s top young keepers.

 

Excellent shot-stopper

At the core of his skillset, Henderson is first and foremost an excellent shot-stopper. He has come up with important saves to make up for any defensive lapses in front of him.

Although he has been prone to the odd mistake himself, Henderson’s displays have been encouraging in terms of his goalkeeping fundamentals.

Last season, Henderson’s save percentage of 76% was amongst the best when compared to other goalkeepers in the top five leagues and according to Statsbomb, he was in the 90th percentile for this metric.

These strong fundamentals in terms of his shot-stopping meant that when de Gea was unavailable for a period of time during project restart, Henderson was able to assert himself and directly provide what the team was missing in de Gea’s absence.

 

Modern-day keeper

Whilst his distribution is not a strong suit of his, Henderson is certainly still a modern-day keeper.

He is very agile and willing to be aggressive whenever his team pushes high up the field and his happy to act as a sweeper keeper when called upon to do so.

At Sheffield United and later at Manchester United, this was an important quality. With the Blades, his bold style helped Wilder influence the game better in an attacking sense. Additionally under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, his willingness to come forward and sweep meant

that the defence had greater confidence going forward and maintaining a higher line knowing that Henderson will be aggressive when necessary.

During the 20-21 season, Henderson averaged 1.12 defensive actions outside of the penalty are per90, according to Statsbomb via FBref.

These defensive actions have been sweeping clearances where more often than not, Henderson has been able to protect the space behind the defence. Another crucial asset of his which will be helpful for Forest.

 

Commanding the area

Another encouraging aspect of Henderson is his personality on the pitch and his ability to command defenders who are much more experienced than him.

He is vocal and constantly looking to communicate with his fellow defenders when defending set-pieces from the opposition.

Because of his aggressive style and willingness to assert, Henderson is also a key asset when facing crosses into the box.

In this regard, his numbers look much better than those of de Gea’s, whose weakness at defending crosses has come under scrutiny on several occasions in recent years.

According to Statsbomb via FBref, Henderson’s cross stopping% of 8.6% places him well above the average top five leagues goalkeeper for this metric. He sits in the 63th percentile for this metric.

With all of these positives considered, and with Brice Samba likely vacating the number 1 position, Forest and Henderson could very well look forward to a very successful loan spell this season.