Liam Henderson (footballer, born 1996)

This article is about the Celtic player . For the Watford, Gateshead and Spennymoor Town player, see Liam Henderson (footballer, born 1989).
Liam Henderson
Personal information
Full nameLiam Henderson
Date of birth25 April 1996
Place of birthLivingston, Scotland
Height6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)
Playing positionCentral Midfielder
Club information
Current team
Rosenborg
(on loan from Celtic)
Number18
Youth career
2008Hearts
2008–2013Celtic
Senior career*
YearsTeamApps†(Gls)†
2013–Celtic17(2)
2015–→ Rosenborg (loan)4(3)
National team‡
2011–2012Scotland U16[1]9(1)
2012–2013Scotland U17[2]6(0)
2013–Scotland U19[3][4]13(3)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 25 April 2015.

† Appearances (Goals).

‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 12 April 2015

Liam Henderson (born 25 April 1996) is a Scottish professional footballer who currently plays as a midfielder for Norwegian club Rosenborg on loan from Celtic. He has also played for Scotland at Under 17 and Under 19 levels.

Club career

Henderson signed for Celtic from Hearts in 2008.[5] He featured for the club's development squad in midfield and was included in the first team squad for their pre-season trip to Germany in the summer of 2013.[5] Henderson played in a pre-season game against Ukrainian side Sevastopol, alongside higher profile debutants Virgil van Dijk and Amido Balde.[6]

Season 2013–14 saw Henderson continue to play for the Celtic development squad at both U20 level and in the UEFA Youth League.[5] He was particularly impressive in Celtic's 4–1 win over the Ajax academy side in October.[7][8] Henderson made his competitive first team début, aged 17, on 6 December 2013; coming on as a substitute in Celtic's 5–0 win over Motherwell in the league.[9] He then featured for the first team again in January 2014, playing in Turkey against Galatasaray in the Antalya Winter Cup. The match finished 0–0, but Celtic lost on penalty kicks. Despite the result, Henderson, and several other youth players who featured, were praised for their performance.[10]

On 13 March 2014 Henderson made his first start in a competitive game in an away league match at Kilmarnock.[11] Celtic won 3–0 and Henderson was praised by manager Neil Lennon for his performance, saying "I thought he grew into the game and had a superb debut. Credit to him and credit to the academy, because I think we have got a good player there."[12] Henderson scored his first goal for Celtic on 26 March 2014, the second goal in Celtic's 5–1 win away at Partick Thistle which clinched the league title.[13] His form throughout March saw him win the SPFL Young Player of the Month award for that month.[14] Manager Neil Lennon commented "He's been absolutely excellent", and added that "His attitude to work is fantastic and there's certainly a willingness on his part to get better".[14]

Henderson made a couple of appearances in the first few weeks of season 2014–15; playing against KR Reykjavik in a Champions League qualifying match and then in a league match away against Inverness CT. However, he thereafter completely dropped out of new Celtic manager Ronny Deila's plans for several months.[15] Henderson regained his place in the XI in early January and scored an excellent left-footed strike against Hamilton Academical on 17 January 2015.[16] Henderson featured for Celtic in the first leg of their Europa League tie against Inter Milan, coming on as a substitute in the second half and providing the cross which led to John Guidetti's late equalising goal in a 3–3 draw.[17] A month later he played in the final eight minutes of Celtic's 2–0 League Cup Final win over Dundee United.[18]

Henderson completed a short-term loan move to Rosenborg on 31 March 2015.[19] Rosenborg manager Kåre Ingebrigtsen described Henderson as a "very exciting player" and that he had "huge potential".[20] Henderson made his debut for his new club on 12 April when he came on as a second half substitute during a 6–0 win over Haugesund.[21] After making another substitute appearance in a league match against Strømsgodset,[4] Henderson made his first starting appearance in Norway on 22 April in a Norwegian Cup tie away against lower league Vuku. The midfielder opened the scoring after 8 minutes with a right foot strike. It was his first goal for Rosenborg, and his side went on to win 3–0.[22][23] On 25 April Henderson came off the bench, on his 19th birthday, against Viking to score twice within 10 minutes. Rosenborg subsequently won the game 4–1.[4][24][25]

International career

Henderson has played for Scotland at youth level; captaining the Under 17 side,[5] and then making the step up to the Under 19 side who qualified for the Elite Round of the UEFA European Championship after a 1–1 draw with Germany in October 2013.[7] Henderson played in all three elite round matches in May 2014,[3] although Scotland finished bottom of the group and failed to progress.[26]

He kept his place in the Under 19 squad for the following season, and in October 2014 played against Finland in the opening qualifying tie for the 2015 UEFA U19 Championship. Henderson scored from the penalty spot to put Scotland 2–0 ahead, but Finland rallied and scored twice in the final 14 minutes to secure a draw.[27] Henderson played in further draws against Lithuania and Norway,[4] with Scotland qualifying for Elite Round the as the best ranked third-placed team.[28] He scored both of Scotland's goals in their 2–1 win over Austria in their opening Elite Round match on 26 March 2015.[4][29]

Career statistics

As of 1 May 2015[30][4]
Club Season League Cup League Cup Europe Total
Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Celtic
2013–14 8100000081
2014–15 91101030141
Total 172101030222
Rosenborg (loan)
2015 4311000054
Career Total 215211030276

Honours

Celtic

References

  1. ↑ "U16 Profiles – Liam Henderson". Scottishfa.co.uk. Archived from the original on 26 February 2015. Retrieved 11 February 2014.
  2. ↑ "U17 Profiles – Liam Henderson". Scottishfa.co.uk. Archived from the original on 25 January 2015. Retrieved 11 February 2014.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 "U19 Profiles – Liam Henderson". Scottishfa.co.uk. Archived from the original on 15 January 2015. Retrieved 28 October 2014.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 "L. Henderson". Soccerway. Retrieved 31 March 2015.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 "U20s / Development Squad – The Players". Celtic FC.net. Retrieved 11 February 2014.
  6. ↑ "Celtic 0 Sevastopol 1: New signings debut as Celtic lose pre-season opener". Daily Record. 3 July 2013. Retrieved 11 February 2014.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 "Celtic starlet aims for place in top team". Evening Times. 24 October 2013. Retrieved 11 February 2014.
  8. ↑ "Celtic 4 – 1 Ajax". UEFA.com. Retrieved 11 February 2014.
  9. ↑ "Liam Henderson". soccerbase.com. Retrieved 11 February 2014.
  10. ↑ Swan, Craig (13 January 2014). "Galatasaray 0 Celtic 0: Turkish champions clinch Antalya Winter Cup 5–4 on penalties but Neil Lennon's kids take the plaudits". Daily Record. Retrieved 11 February 2014.
  11. ↑ "Kilmarnock v Celtic". BBC Sport. 13 March 2014. Retrieved 14 March 2014.
  12. ↑ "Neil Lennon praises Liam Henderson after youngster makes his first Celtic start against Kilmarnock at Rugby Park". Daily Record. 15 March 2014. Retrieved 19 March 2014.
  13. ↑ Lindsay, Clive (26 March 2014). "Partick Thistle 1 – 5 Celtic". BBC Sport. Retrieved 26 March 2014.
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 "Celtic's Liam Henderson wins March young player award". BBC Sport. 4 April 2014. Retrieved 22 May 2014.
  15. ↑ "Henderson, Liam 2014–15". FitbaStats. Retrieved 28 October 2014.
  16. ↑ Campbell, Andy (17 January 2015). "Hamilton 0 - 2 Celtic". BBC Sport. Retrieved 17 January 2015.
  17. ↑ Lamont, Alasdair (19 February 2015). "Celtic 3 - 3 Inter Milan". BBC Sport. Retrieved 16 March 2015.
  18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 Wilson, Richard (15 March 2015). "Dundee Utd 0 - 2 Celtic". BBC Sport. Retrieved 16 March 2015.
  19. ↑ "Celtic kid Liam Henderson joins Norwegian side Rosenborg on loan until the summer". Daily Record. 31 March 2015. Retrieved 20 April 2015.
  20. ↑ "Henderson på lån fra Celtic" (in Norwegian). Rosenborg Ballklub. 31 March 2015. Retrieved 31 March 2015.
  21. ↑ McHugh, Joe (12 April 2015). "Henderson’s winning debut for Rosenborg". Video Celts. Retrieved 12 April 2015.
  22. ↑ Stendal, Christian Skare (22 April 2015). "Skotsk stortalent scoret sitt første Rosenborg-mål" (in Norwegian). Aftenposten. Retrieved 24 April 2015.
  23. ↑ Dawes, Olly (23 April 2015). "Celtic teenager Liam Henderson reacts after scoring first goal for Rosenborg this week". Here is the City. Retrieved 24 April 2015.
  24. ↑ Johannessen, Bjørn Arne (25 April 2015). "Alexander Søderlund: - Vi er som et lokomotiv" (in Norwegian). VG. Retrieved 26 April 2015.
  25. ↑ Barka, Even (25 April 2015). "Scoret to mål på seks minutter: - Jeg er ingen naturlig målscorer" (in Norwegian). Dagbladet. Retrieved 26 April 2015.
  26. ↑ "Scotland end under-19 campaign with defeat". scottishfa.co.uk. 30 May 2014. Retrieved 6 June 2014.
  27. ↑ "Under-19s pegged back in Euro opener". scottishfa.co.uk. 7 October 2014. Retrieved 28 October 2014.
  28. ↑ "Scotland confirmed in elite round". UEFA. 19 November 2014. Retrieved 31 March 2015.
  29. ↑ "Celtic kid Liam Henderson gets Scotland Under-19s off to Austrian flyer". Evening Times. 27 March 2015. Retrieved 31 March 2015.
  30. ↑ "Henderson, Liam". FitbaStats. Retrieved 5 April 2015.