A LOAN AGAIN, NATURALLY

He’s actually MANCHESTER United’s keeper, but Blade Henderson says that while going to so many clubs has been tough, it’s been the making of him

he’s pooping himself ’,” recalled Henderson.

“He’s put it up, but the ball’s held back in the wind and hasn’t even reached the box. I’ve got to the end of the box and thought ‘I’m going to have to slow down here’ and I stopped. He flicked it on and it’s trickled into the goal.

“I had four thousand fans at Stockport giving me hurlers, saying ‘get back to Man United, you’re useless’.”

Rather than hide, Henderson had the character to come for the next high ball and catch it as Stockport fought back to earn a 1-1 draw. “I came for the next cross, caught it, and threw it out and I felt amazing,” he said. “I thought: ‘I’ve done it, I’ve overcome it’ and I’ve built on that.

“I went from feeling my worst to my best in one game. It’s made me what I am today. I know I can come back from any mistake. You can’t let it worry you.”

Such a confident attitude stood Henderson in good stead as he climbed the football pyramid during loan spells at Grimsby and Shrewsbury before reaching the Premier

League with Chris Wilder’s high-flying Blades.

And the 22-year-old has been expertly handled by Bramall Lane boss Wilder.

He knows when to praise him and when to give him a kick up the backside, like he did after his costly error against Liverpool earlier this season. “It’s a tough industry, you have to be able to take criticism,” said Wilder. “You’re out there playing in arenas with 50,000 people in the Premier League. I imagine he gets a lot worse than I give him!

“He’s learning in the hostile business of professional football and everything that brings, whether that was in the early days of his career and then onto Shrewsbury, into the Championship with us, and now into the Premier League.

“I love what he’s about. I love that he wants to play football and he wants to drive his career forward.”

Henderson is already on England manager Gareth Southgate’s radar and, with David de Gea suffering a dip in form at United, there have been to calls for him to be given a chance as No.1 at Old Trafford. He aims ultimately to be first choice for England and United, but says won’t feel like a United player until he finally makes his debut nine years after joining. “People can walk round and say they’ve played for Manchester United and yet they’ve never kicked a ball for the first team,” he said. “I’m not one of those people.

“One day that’s my aim, to play for Man United, but, until that happens, I have no right to say I’m a Manchester United player.”