Dean Henderson might have already signed with Newcastle United

I don’t want to make you nervous but there might be something going on here, folks. Is Dean Henderson, current Manchester United’s backup goalkeeper, really going to play for Newcastle next season? I mean, is Dean Henderson’s transfer already agreed between the two Uniteds with us totally missing on the news!?

That seems to be the latest report coming from Manchester Evening News writer Samuel Luckhurst who covers Man. Utd. for the media outlet. Here are a couple of tweets explaining the whole ordeal.

You read that right. Newcastle is waiting for Manchester United to just sign Henderson’s future replacement before greenlighting the transfer of the England international to the Magpies. Uh, oh, the flex from the Magpies without anyone realizing.

If this is true, there should be no issues nor really any large delay in agreeing to a deal from the Newcastle or Manchester sides of this equation. Even if the chosen one by the Red Devils is Watford’s Daniel Bachmann, well, it’s not that the Hornets are in a very strong position to retain him having gotten relegated to the Championship and dropping from the top flight from next season on.

Karl Darlow, currently part of the Magpies roster, might go the other way in a move that would see Manchester United retain their quota of national players intact, flipping one English lad for another. Darlow, who is reportedly on vacation following the end of the season, has yet to discuss any potential deal with United—another reason for the delay in Henderson’s transfer announcement.

Henderson was one of Newcastle’s early targets back in January when Eddie Howe declared his interest in the goalie to strengthen the Black and White with the goal of avoiding relegation still in mind. Of course, Manchester United didn’t budge—as they did by handcuffing Jesse Lingard back then too—and Henderson stayed a Mancunian... while gracing Old Trafford’s pitch—or away ones, for that matter—all of no times at all. That’s correct. Henderson didn’t play a single Premier League minute for Man. United this season, as ridiculous as that sounds and is now looking for a way out of Manchester to play first-team minutes—which of course Newcastle can offer starting next year with Martin Dubravka nearing 35 years of age.

While Henderson is under a four-year deal expiring in 2025, his current situation in terms of his role is just killing all of his upside and chances at, simply put, anything and everything. Henderson should be a reasonable transfer target for Newcastle because Man. Utd. is expected to demand around £20M for the goalie while Henderson is currently earning £100K weekly. He shouldn’t be asking for much more than that if he completes any move. And it looks like we’re closer than ever to it truly happening.

Looking at 2020-21 stats (when Henderson actually played something—13 games, 12 starts in the Premier League), the United keeper allowed just 0.96 GA90 sandwiched between Ederson, Edouard Mendy, and Alisson. His Save% reached 76%, the third-best mark among keepers with more than 4 games played and only behind Emiliano Martinez and Nick Pope.

Dean Henderson played to his expected level last year, allowing 12 goals against 12.3 Post-Shot Expected Goals (+0.02 saves per 90 minutes). He was also one of the most active keepers in performing defensive actions outside of the penalty area (1.12 per 90 minutes, the third-most among goalies to feature steadily for their teams).

Between the uncountable amount of rumors hitting Newcastle shores these days, we might have missed on the only real and already-done deal from the new owners in their first summer transfer window at the helm. Not that we care if we land this man!