| Henderson Vows to put Villa Blues Behind
Him By Phil Campion
One of Ireland’s hottest goalkeeping prospects is desperate to get away
from Aston Villa and prove manager David O’Leary wrong for overlooking him
in his team selections.
Wayne Henderson was amongst the cream of emerging players when he joined
Villa as a teenager and was highly rated at the club in his early years.
However fortunes changed when O’Leary came to Birmingham 18 months ago
and the Dubliner believes its time for him to move on.
“It will be nice to prove O’Leary wrong,” said Henderson.
“This is my seventh season with Villa and I’m disappointed because I
am highly rated outside of Aston Villa.”
“When O’Leary came in he had his own ideas and I never got a chance to
prove myself.”
The former Bohemians and Cherry Orchard player’s promising career turned
into a nightmare after O’Leary signed goalkeeper Thomas Sorensen soon after
he arrived at Villa Park.
Henderson has been on loan to Brighton this season and after some excellent
performances he returned to Villa Park last month but has so far been overlooked
by O’Leary.
However Brighton manager Mark McGhee is hoping to sign a pre-contract
agreement with Henderson that ensures he’s a Brighton player in January.
He was very impressed by the young keeper during his spell on the south
coast.
“He’s been different class for us. His distribution allows us to play
the way we want to play,” said the Seagulls manager.
“Hopefully I can move on,” said Henderson. It’s down to Brighton to reach
an agreement with Villa — I’d love to move to Brighton.”
Despite Henderson’s current problems with his club it has not effected
his international form for the under-21s. He was man-of-the-match at the
recent game with France at Tolka Park and his family were there to support
him.
“It was brilliant, as my Dad is not in the best of health these days
and isn’t able to travel over to England to watch me play. Both of my older
brothers and my dad were good goalkeepers,” said the 22-year-old.
Henderson comes from a family steeped in football tradition with his
father having played for Shamrock Rovers in the 1962 FAI Cup final and his
brother David playing for St. Pats and Bohemians.
Brother Stephen is manager at Cobh Ramblers after being a goalkeeper
for Ards in the Irish League.
Henderson’s long-term ambitions in the game still remain unchanged.
“My big goal in life is to play for Ireland,” he said.
“There will be a few friendlies coming up and I want to get into the
squads. It is important that I set goals for my football career.”
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