Shrewsbury Town boss Paul Hurst is pleased to be able to bring Manchester United goalkeeper Dean Henderson to the club.
Henderson has joined on a season-long loan deal and is someone Paul knows well having taken him on loan to Grimsby Town last season.
“We obviously had him at Grimsby and I knew that we were linked with him and I was cautious with what I wanted to say about that at the time”, Paul told ShrewsWeb.
“There’s been a lot of interest in Dean and I didn’t want to alert more people or risk putting a potential deal in doubt, because it’s something we’ve talked about for a long time and it’s taken a while to finally get to this point.
“He’s a ‘keeper that I think’s got a big future in front of him and he will be looking to take this opportunity to really kick on and progress his career.
“He’s very young for a goalkeeper, but he did well at Grimsby last season after I’d gone and he got himself in the team and we think he’s got a big future and hopefully he can show that with ourselves.”
Henderson has been linked with a number of clubs throughout the closed season, but Paul believes his previous relationship with Henderson helped secure his signature.
“I think a big reason for him coming here was the relationship he has with myself and Chris (Doig), despite the fact that he wasn’t given a first team game under us”, Hurst said.
“Hopefully that’s an indication that we are trying to build good relationships with players. We treat them fairly and honestly in terms of where we see them and this time I’m sure he will be looking to get more games.
“With him and Craig there is good competition, particularly while Jayson is away, so it’s pleasing to get him on board and pleasing that he wanted to come and join us.”
The 20-year-old is highly thought of at Manchester United and Paul believes he has all the attributes to become a very good goalkeeper.
“He kicks the ball extremely well”, said Paul.
“He’s someone that is absolutely full of confidence and backs himself. He’s probably one of the most confident characters I have met, especially at such an age, and maybe some people might see that as misguided at times, but I don’t mind it.
“He will come for crosses, he likes to be proactive in terms of his approach to his goalkeeping and I think that might be part of the reason that we all think he can go on and have a very good career.”