Stockport County played a key role in Crystal Palace player’s rise to Euro 2024: View | OneFootball

The Hatters kicked off a senior career that has led him to the continent's biggest stage

Highlights

Dean Henderson is at the pinnacle of his career as part of the England setup for Euro 2024, but he has admitted in the past that his early loan moves were vital for getting him to where he is today.

Those temporary moves began with a short-term switch to Edgeley Park with Stockport County, before deals at Grimsby Town, Shrewsbury Town and Sheffield United saw him rise into the Manchester United first team.

He has since earned himself a permanent move to Crystal Palace, where injury and selection issues limited his game time throughout 2023/24, but he has managed to retain his England spot, travelling to Germany as one of the Three Lions' deputy glovemen.

It has been a rollercoaster ride for Henderson, but it all began at Edgeley Park.

Henderson joined the Hatters towards the end of one of the club's lowest ebbs, fighting it out in the sixth tier following years of ownership turmoil at the beginning of 2016.

The switch from academy football to National League North was every bit as difficult as it appears on paper, and the 27-year-old lists it as one of the toughest, but most important, challenges he faced in his career.

Speaking to Manchester United's official website in 2022, the goalkeeper said: “I think that’s what makes you, playing at that level is probably harder than playing in the Premier League, in my opinion, as a goalkeeper, because it’s a completely different game.

“I think my debut, in the first five minutes, their big striker said: ‘Stick it on the goalie, he’s pooping himself’. I thought: ‘Right mate, I’m coming for this’. So I made my mind up I was coming for it and, before I even got there, he flicked it over my head. These are the things you learn and move on. It was great for me."

Henderson remained grateful to the Hatters throughout his career

Henderson made nine appearances in total for the Hatters during his short stint towards the end of the 2015/16 season, a relatively small amount on paper, but each one had a big role to play in his later career.

He told United's website: "I’m thankful for the opportunity given to me by the manager at the time, Jim Gannon, for sticking by me because I didn’t play too well.

"I really enjoyed it, getting battered around as a goalkeeper in that league really sort of made me who I am today. I was really getting smashed on crosses, kicking the ball 80 yards on to the striker’s head and, if I didn’t do so, the manager was screaming at me from the touchline. It stood me in good stead and I really appreciate the opportunity they gave me."

Although those nine games form a tiny percentage of Henderson's total career appearances now, they were some of the most important. It set the stall of his senior career as his first stepping stone, before moving on to Grimsby in League Two, Shrewsbury in League One and Sheffield United in the Championship and Premier League.

Henderson predicted a couple of years ago that he'd still have been in League One, were it not for those early formative experiences having been thrown in at the deep end.

He became a success both domestically and internationally

Not only did Stockport play a crucial role in kickstarting him on his journey to the elite level of English football, but that path also took him to the international stage.

He has had a difficult task ahead of him attempting to unseat Jordan Pickford, one of the most consistent England goalkeepers for generations, but Henderson has still managed to collect a senior England cap and has been called up numerous times since his first squad inclusion towards the end of 2019.

He travelled as one of three England goalkeepers to Euro 2024, carrying with him a strong Hatters connection as he plays his part in hopefully bringing football home at last.