Opinion: Celtic starlet leaves with his head held high

It was perhaps not a surprise to see Ewan Henderson leave Celtic to join Hibernian. The Easter Road side confirmed the the 21-year-old has signed for them on a loan deal which will be made permanent at the end of the season.

Henderson was struggling to get into the Celtic first-team, which in a way is understandable as the Hoops have so many players which can feature in his position in midfield.

It is better for the player to move on to a team where he will have a chance of playing every week, and at the age he is, Henderson might have realised that he likely wasn’t going to get regular game time with the Hoops.

Henderson can leave Celtic with his head held high though, as he performed well for the Hoops when he did feature for the first-team. 

All in all Henderson played 11 games for the Hoops, scoring one goal and contributing 3 assists. Interestingly enough, he never featured in a losing side for the Bhoys, and started both Brendan Rodgers’ last game in charge of Celtic and Neil Lennon’s first game as caretaker manager.

Henderson’s only goal for the club came in his last game for the Hoops, as he scored in the 3-2 win over Real Betis in the Europa League. It was a good finish from a player who had just come off the bench, and he should be proud that he scored for the Hoops in a group stage win in Europe.

YouTube: Celtic vs Real Betis 3-2 Highlights | UEFA Europa League 2021/22

Henderson could well feature regularly for Hibernian under the recently appointed Shaun Maloney, and he has followed in the footsteps of his brother Liam, who moved to Easter Road after playing for Celtic, and is currently playing in Italy.

It is no real surprise to see Celtic trim the playing squad, and some other players on the fringes of the first-team squad could leave before the transfer window closes. 

Celtic Tweeted about Henderson’s exit, and rightfully wished the player ‘good luck’ in the future, and that is the way player exits always should be handled. 

Twitter: Ewan Henderson has joined @HibernianFC, initially on a six-month loan for the remainder of this season before jo… https://t.co/yzDc2NZIhA (@CelticFC)

No doubt Henderson would still be at Celtic if he was going to get regular football, but as that wasn’t going to happen a move is best for all parties.

Henderson can be pleased for the most part with how he performed at Celtic, as has already been said, the only issue was the lack of playing time. Hopefully for the player’s sake he is able to rectify that at his new club.