Manchester United goalkeeper Dean Henderson says he appreciates his time on-loan at Stockport County.
Playing in the National League North was the start of his senior career and part of a structured plan to enable him to accelerate his learning of the trade.
“I think when Jordan Pickford was going out, at the start he went to Carlisle and it was an eye-opener for me,” Henderson tells club media. “He was getting involved in the England squad and had the move to Everton. I’d got to follow that sort of pathway.
“He had a lot of games behind him and this was a reason he got the move to Everton and, firstly, in the Sunderland team. He had the games behind him. You don’t just go into the first team as a goalkeeper through the Academy. It doesn’t work like that.
“For me, I followed the pathways so well, I did exactly those steps,” he continues. “I played for Stockport in the Conference North, Grimsby in League Two, Shrewsbury in League One and then Championship and Premier League for Sheffield United to come back and create a situation here.
“I think it’s massively important to do that. Look at Aaron Ramsdale at Arsenal, he’s done the same. Look at Sam Johnstone, he’s done the same and played a lot of games. Nick Pope. There are ones who actually get through and some will be missed off the thing because they haven’t played enough games at a young age. So I speak really passionately about it. You can see I can go on about it all day. We followed a great pathway.”
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