Henderson ready for senior England debut
Manchester United keeper Dean Henderson could be poised to make his senior England debut in the friendly against Wales tonight (Thursday).
The Academy product has kept clean sheets in both of his outings for the Reds, at Luton Town and Brighton & Hove Albion in the Carabao Cup, and is in the frame to replace Everton's Jordan Pickford.
Burnley no.1 Nick Pope is also in contention, and perhaps favourite to start, although there is certainly the prospect of Dean getting a taste of the action at Wembley at some point.
✈️ 🔜🔝🔝 pic.twitter.com/ixoITo9snz
— Dean Henderson (@deanhenderson) October 6, 2020
"Clearly, we know that Jordan has made errors," said Southgate. “Nick actually made errors at the weekend and Dean has only played the League Cup games, so far, against changed line-ups.
“There's a very close contest and all three, we don't have any hesitation of putting in goal.
“We will make a change because I think it's a good opportunity to get other people on the field. If you're taking goalkeepers away and they're not getting the opportunity to play, that's the hardest thing.
“We've had keepers over the years who've retired because of that being a really difficult situation to handle. For the harmony of the squad and the group, we've got to make sure that we're doing that, as well as the fact we want that competition.”
Henderson could come face to face with his United colleagues Daniel James and Dylan Levitt (currently on loan at Charlton Athletic), who are in Ryan Giggs's Wales squad for the 20:00 BST kick-off.
The 23-year-old is desperate to become only the sixth player to keep goal for England while being on the Reds' books.
Gary Bailey, Ben Foster, Jack Mew, Alex Stepney and Ray Wood are the others and none made more than three appearances for their country while with the club.
England have further games to follow during this international break - against Belgium on Sunday (17:00 BST) and Denmark next Wednesday (19:45 BST). Both are home fixtures in the UEFA Nations League.
Harry Maguire and Marcus Rashford are also part of the Three Lions' squad.
The new season is here. Our 2020/21 home, away and third kits are available now from United Direct.