Latest reports from the Daily Mail indicates that Celtic are willing to let Jack Hendry leave on loan and Sunderland are one of the interested parties to get his signature. Current League One topper Portsmouth are also interested in this Scottish international who has fallen down the pecking order at Park Head.
Hendry hasn’t started a game for the Hoops since October, and the club has Dedryck Boyata, Filip Benkovic, Kristoffer Ajer and Jozo Simunovic as options for the centre back role. However, Boyata’s future is currently uncertain as he was unwilling to sign a new contract having entered the last year of his deal at Celtic Park. The club might look to sell the Belgian in January but letting Hendry leave on loan might indicate that the 27-year-old is set to stay at the club until the end of the season.
Hendry was signed from Dundee for a fee of £1.5m, and he was considered as one of the brightest defensive talents in the country then. However, after getting his chances in the initial few months, the 23-year-old failed to impress and is currently on the fringes of the squad.
Former St. Mirren manager Jack Ross is the current boss of Sunderland, and he would have seen Hendry play from close quarters when he was managing in Scotland. The Black Cats signed as many as four centre-backs in the summer and have done well at the back so far this campaign. They have the second best defensive record in the league and we don’t really see how moving to England would improve Hendry’s game time.
Jack Baldwin, Tom Flanagan and Glenn Loovens have been the preferred options for the manager and Hendry would have to compete for places with them. The defender’s performance this season has been wretched so far, and one wouldn’t be wrong in saying that playing Hendry in the initial few months hurt the Hoops’ chances of qualifying for the Champions League.
However, he would have definitely improved after those experience, and maybe Ross believes that he can turn out as a first choice centre back. Currently, Baldwin is the established member at the back and perhaps the other centre back spot is there for the taking.
However, Portsmouth can provide fierce competition for his signature, and it can very much come down to who can offer more game time to the 23-year-old. Hendry is definitely a promising defender, but he needs to play regularly to get specific errors out of his game if he wants to make it big with the Glaswegian giants. It remains to be seen whether he would come down south to resurrect his career.
