Young goalies could be leaving Reds for keeps
SAM Johnstone and Dean Henderson are back with United after both suffered play-off heartbreak...but for how long?
Both goalkeepers have really thrived on loan in the lower leagues, with Johnstone helping Aston Villa to Wembley and Henderson having an impressive spell at Shrewsbury, who lost in the League One play-off final.
Henderson was named in the PFA League One team of the year, kept 19 clean sheets and even saved a penalty at Wembley against Rotherham.
His displays have alerted several clubs, with Norwich said to be most interested.
Johnstone, meanwhile, was high up on the list of Steve Bruce’s summer targets if Villa were promoted, but the club’s financial situation means a return to Villa Park is unlikely with a number of Premier League clubs monitoring his situation.
The 25-year-old appeared to say as much in his goodbye message on Instagram.
“I am proud to say I’ve played for Aston Villa. To be able to perform in front of a full Villa Park for the past 18 months has been so special to me with ups and downs along the way, learning so much each day and each game,” he wrote.
Unlike Henderson, who is out of contract in the summer, Johnstone still has a year to run on his United deal but the idea of him leapfrogging Sergio Romero to the No.2 spot seems a stretch.
That would leave Johnstone battling it out with Joel Pereira to be thirdchoice, which is a position that is surely beneath him after such a productive loan spell playing in front of 40,000 fans at Villa Park.
If United are to lose both Johnstone and Henderson this summer, though, it gives someone else the chance to go on pre-season tour. United will take three goalkeepers on their flight to Los Angeles on July 15. The first will surely be Pereira, who did not make Portugal’s World Cup squad, while Romero may yet be fit to make the flight.
The 31-year-old pulled out of Argentina’s World Cup squad after suffering a ‘joint blockage in his right knee which requires surgery’ but, unusually, his wife has since come out with a prognosis of ‘two to three weeks maximum’.
Provided David de Gea progresses past the last 16 of the World Cup with Spain, as expected, that leaves one slot potentially up for grabs for a goalkeeper who has yet to play for the first team.
Kieran O’Hara is in the driving seat while youngster Matej Kovar has trained with the seniors on a number of occasions since joining the club in January.