Former Dundee defender Jack Hendry was one of the most sought-after centre-backs in the Scottish Premiership not so long ago, and both the Glaswegian giants Celtic and Rangers were interested in having his services. However, Celtic managed to land this 23-year-old defender and the Gers missed out on their target. Although, now it seems that the Light Blues might have dodged a bullet here as Hendry has struggled to get going in Celtic colours.
Hendry himself admitted that he is going through the toughest phase of his football career. The responsibilities at Celtic came too soon to him as the Hoops have been reeling with injuries. The likes of Dedryck Boyata and Filip Benkovic are going to leave the club by next summer, and so someone like Hendry would need to step up to make himself count.
In a lesser team, a defender is always on the edge and he is tested defensively throughout the game. Whereas when playing for a big club like Celtic, the defender might not have to do many defensive duties throughout the game but he needs to stay focussed as when the opportunity arrives to help the team, the defender needs to on his game. That is where Hendry seems to be lacking as he has made some glaring errors which can only be due to lack of concentration.
The Bears have been defensively solid ever since Steven Gerrard took over at the club and the new looking backline has already delivered the results. The likes of Nikola Katic and Connor Goldson helped the side in the Europa League qualifiers and the league. Slowly Nottingham Forest loanee, Joe Worrall is also coming to the party and has done well defensively in most of the games he has played so far.
At the moment one can say all the four Rangers centre back (Worrall, Goldson, Katic and Gareth McAuley) are better placed and skilled than Hendry. Though McAuley hasn’t played a game so far, the veteran was part of the Premier League until last season and should be able to handle himself when called upon.
One cannot count Hendry out though as he is still just 23 and can go on to improve with more experience. At the moment he looks suited to be a backup option rather than a regular centre-half. The Hoops reportedly shelled out £1.5m for him in January this year, and one has to say that he hasn’t shown enough quality to justify such a price tag. So Rangers would be happy to see that they avoided spending over £1m hastily on a defender.
