As Celtic’s goalkeeping troubles continue to plague them this season, a recent report has stated that the Hoops may be interested in Man Utd youngster Dean Henderson.
90Min reported this week that Parkhead could be an option for the Old Trafford youngster. They believe that Man Utd are willing to sanction another loan move for the shot-stopper, who’s eyeing up a place in Gareth Southgate’s England squad for Euro 2020.
Henderson had shined whilst on loan with Sheffield United in each of the last two campaigns. However, with many Premier League clubs having already sorted out their goalkeeping situation for the season, Henderson could have to look abroad or even to Scotland for a move.
From a Celtic perspective, many will feel this makes sense. Given neither Vasilis Barkas nor Scott Bain has seized the number one jersey in Glasgow for themselves, it’s easy to see why this could be attractive.
However, Celtic must look at this with a long-term view. They must ask themselves the question of whether they believe they can win the league with Barkas in goal. If they can’t, then somebody needs to be held accountable for splashing £4.5million on him in the first place (Scottish Sun).
In reality, Barkas isn’t a poor goalkeeper. He’s a stopper who’s had a troubled start to a career in a totally different footballing environment. Yes, he should be saving some of the shots he’s been letting in, but he hasn’t been helped by a shocking defence that’s continuously tweaked by the manager.
No need for Henderson’s arrival
Bringing in Henderson for a few months to try and get us over the line does Barkas absolutely no favours. We spoke last week about why we wouldn’t even sanction a move for Fraser Forster anymore if it was down to us. You simply have to stick by your investment, and Barkas has hardly shown that he should just be discarded and never used again.
He needs a pat on the back or an arm around the shoulder. Bringing in someone to take his place will do absolutely nothing for his development nor his integration into things in Scotland. It’ll make his next few months a lot more difficult.
You could argue that this would be a deal worth pulling off if Henderson was coming permanently. But he wouldn’t. It would only be for the short-term, and it’s time Celtic stuck by a goalkeeper that they actually owned.
There’s also no guarantee that Henderson would even come straight in and improve things immediately from January onwards either. He’s only played three games this season, and didn’t look too comfortable against Istanbul Basaksehir in the Champions League earlier this month.
So Celtic really have to try and stick by Barkas and put him back in the nets as soon as possible. He’s one of the biggest investments we made in the summer, and it’s vital we continue to put some faith in him. His performance at Ross County back in September showed there’s a potentially great goalkeeper in there, it’s time for us to find it.
In other news, the Celtic supporters lauded the women’s team for a big result yesterday as well as the Twitter admin for a bit of trolling towards Rangers.
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