Current Team – Hellas Verona
Nationality - Scottish
Age - 23
Height – 183cm
Position – Centre Midfield
League Career stats
2013/2014 Celtic Scottish Premiership – 8 apps 1 goal
2014/2015 Celtic Scottish Premiership – 9 apps 1 goal
2015/2016 Celtic Scottish Premiership - 1 app 0 goals
2015/2016 Rosenborg Norwegian Tippeligaen - 9 apps 3 goals
2015/2016 Hibs Scottish championship – 32 apps 5 goals
2016/2017 Celtic Scottish Premiership – 10 apps 1 goal
2017/2018 Celtic Scottish Premiership – 1 app 0 goals
2017/2018 Bari Italian Serie B – 18 apps 2 goals
2018/2019 Hellas Verona Italian Serie B – 26 apps 3 goals
Overview
Its always fascinating to see a Scottish player go to a club out with the U.K, mainly because it happens so rarely. Henderson made the surprise move to Bari in 2017 and playing a big part in their promotion push before joining Hellas Verona last summer. They are still going in the playoffs this year so he could be a Serie A player next season. Let’s have a look at the man dubbed
“Braveheart with Brazilian feet “
Strengths
Adaptability – when you consider that Henderson is only 23 but has succeeded in 3 different playing styles and cultures it is mightily impressive. The frantic and box to box nature of Scottish football, the more technical nature of Norwegian football and the tactical chess match that Italian football provides. The fact he was willing to swap a comfortable place in the Celtic squad with guaranteed title wins most seasons for the challenge and unknown to search for first team football and further his career is hugely admirable. He has developed his game technically and tactically and gathered praise from Fabio Grosso which shows he made the right choice but also he has the ability and temperament to succeed at whichever club he chooses
Creativity and intelligence – Capable of controlling the play from deep or in a more advanced position Henderson shows the ability to use both feet and has an eye for the killer pass. He has averaged a 90% passing accuracy this season but also a noticeable increase in the number of assists he is providing. His no look through ball for Pazzini this season was sublime because the weight and angle opens up the goal for the striker and makes it easy for him to finish the chance.
Set Pieces – Probably most famous for his corner delivery that enabled Hibs to win their first Scottish cup in over 100 years, Henderson has a great delivery but also capable of scoring from them too as evidenced by his first goal for Verona which was a cracking free kick.
Weaknesses
Defensive positioning – Although proficient in keeping the ball and creating in the midfield, Henderson does still lack a bit of awareness in the defensive side of the game. Admittedly not the main part of his role, in order to become a complete midfielder he does need to improve defensively particularly when you consider Verona may go up this season and the standard of opposition will increase exponentially compared to Serie B.
Future potential
If he continues his current career path and finds himself playing in Serie A next season it would be astonishing if he didn’t find himself becoming part of the Scotland team going forward. One of the UK’s biggest problems has been most players staying at home and not experiencing different footballing styles and cultures. England have shown a vast improvement recently but its clear the “British” style will only get you so far internationally and having a player who has a great respect and understanding for the tactical side of the game could help the entire team out. Henderson has said he would love to return to Hibs one day but that would appear to be in the distant future. It would be great to see him stay in Italy and further develop his game.
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