Doneil Henry

[CanadianSoccerFan]

The Floro right back experiment will baffle me forever.  

[Vince193]

The CPL beckons for him, and is a place where he can hopefully have a nice long and healthy career.

[kingvikingstad]

18 minutes ago, Vince193 said:

The CPL beckons for him, and is a place where he can hopefully have a nice long and healthy career.

Maybe to start, but if he can reach even half of his potential he should be playing in a bigger league. I think with his injuries the past three years people forget how much potential he showed for his age. He was physically dominant at 18. He just needed some polish in decision-making and rounding out his technical game - something most young CBs deal with. 

If he can get past his injuries, I'll be interested to see where he's at in 2-3 years. I still think he can have a career in Europe. Hell, maybe the injuries will slow him down a bit and it will help his game. I think an MLS team would take a flyer on him for sure, even on a loan.

[SpecialK]

If he's healthy and semi fit or really fit , get him in for some friendlies, so he can showcase his talent. 

I hope they add another game for the September window. 

[Blackjack15]

2 hours ago, BuzzAndSting said:

When did this happen?

And as far not doing very well in England, on what do you base that?

These 2 responses should answer your question: 

1 hour ago, BrennanFan said:

He had 2 reds and 18 yellows in 4 years of MLS.  Thats not insane but not great.

I recall a couple of his hand balls costing TFC as well. 

More recently, he fouled for a penalty to Mexico in WCQ, so he did his rep no favours there.

If he gets released, who would take a chance on him given his lack of track record in europe and history of injury?  

1 hour ago, bwilly11 said:

9 competitive matches in the last 3 years pretty much sums up.

Hes been injury prone, and no matter how much potential he may have had, there is no team in the Premier League will keep the faith that long. I wish him luck, but unless there is a drastic change I fear he is bound for football purgatory in some lower league. 

Luckily, it doesn't seem we need his help right now. Good times for Canada, sorry Doniel

 

[BuzzAndSting]

34 minutes ago, Blackjack15 said:

These 2 responses should answer your question: 

 

So 2 reds in 70 matches is too much for you?

And in terms of his time in England you said he "hasn't done very well," I'm just curious what you base that on. As far as I'm concerned he hasn't hasn't had a chance in England because he hasn't been healthy, unless you're talking about him not doing well in those 9 matches?

[BearcatSA]

Injuries have undermined his career to date, particularly with loan spells where he could have been in the "shop window" outside the Prem.  I think people fixate on the fact that he is with a Premier League club but I think his future might be with another league, like Championship or League One in the England or Scandinavia.  Hopefully he can put the injuries behind him and get his career back on track.

Edited July 19, 2017 by BearcatSA

[king1010]

2 hours ago, Vince193 said:

The CPL beckons for him, and is a place where he can hopefully have a nice long and healthy career.

Really? You dont even think he can cut it in MLS anymore? 

[matty]

Didn't he play like less than 5 minutes in 3 or 4 of his 9 games over there

[Grizzly]

I remember him getting really good reviews for his play with Blackburn in the Championship but then he got injured in the 3rd game which was the start of his 3 years of injury. When you have such a record of injury it is hard to get teams to take a chance on you. If he is still under contract to West Ham it might be his best bet career wise to stay there and get them to keep loaning him out because good level clubs might be more willing to take a chance on him on a loan that they can terminate if he gets injured as opposed to signing him to a contract and being on the hook for his salary if he gets injured.

[jpg75]

53 minutes ago, dsqpr said:

He is young.

He's 24, that's not young anymore, especially in Europe.

[Cheeta]

1 hour ago, king1010 said:

Really? You dont even think he can cut it in MLS anymore? 

Don't know.  The only question on the MLS player employment application that seems to really matter is  "Can you run fast?"

Sorry, that's unfair.  There's another question that's right up there.  "Are you now or have you ever been, a Canadian?"  I kid, I kid.

The man has been snake bit for sure but as everyone on here knows I'm not his biggest fan either.  Defenders are always late bloomers but unless his decision making has vastly improved in the period he's been over there I really can't imagine how improvements in any other parts of his game really would amount to much more overall value.

Change of scenery might help.  He's shown a willingness to take the chance and that's in his favour.  

[toontownman]

He needs to stay injury free and play games. There is a great amount of potential.

Pretty much all young CB's are the same error prone buffoons starting out. Getting dated now but both Rio Ferdinand and Sol Campbell were horrific until their mid to late 20's. While Doneil likely won't reach half their achievements he has plenty of time to improve. 24 is still young for a CB. He absolutely needs games and an injury free season or two. 

He will go back to mls before cpl.

 

[dyslexic nam]

For me, it is all about the injuries.  He isn't a kid anymore, but there is still lots of tread on the tires - assuming the wheel don't keep falling off.  If he can get a string of games and start to establish a presence somewhere other than a treatment room, he may still be able to carve out a career at a decent level.  But he will likely have to swallow his pride and drop down quite a bit.  To be honest, I always felt that the Blackburn/Hammer level was too high given what I had seen of Henry prior to the move - and with the injury issues there is no way another high level team will be in the mix.  He needs to get healthy, get minutes, and get back into the picture.

[Obinna]

14 hours ago, Blackjack15 said:

I'm sorry but Doneil Henry is absolutely awful! I got nothing but bad memories of him getting red carded and costing us penalty shots in key matches. He also made WAY too many mistakes. He's not a guy you can rely on to be your starting Centre-Back 

i used to think he was the future and all but hasn't done very well in England and I hope he doesn't return to CMNT 

I agree on him not reaching his potential up to this point, but to wish he never makes a return to the CanMNT is foolish. Still plenty of upside to be hopeful about. 

[paul-collins]

He needs a proper trainer/doctor.  Clearly his body isn't robust enough, which suggests need for a different training regime.  (TFC fans will remember Jozy Altidore's problems with his hammies; now look at him)

[Greatest Cockney Rip Off]

He did very well with Blackburn before he git injured. West Ham was just a step too far for him but when you see what BFS did with Winston Reid, you can see why West Ham bought him. 

[Ivan]

25 minutes ago, Greatest Cockney Rip Off said:

He did very well with Blackburn before he git injured. West Ham was just a step too far for him but when you see what BFS did with Winston Reid, you can see why West Ham bought him. 

Exactly.  Got rave reviews at Blackburn if I recall.  He also won the starting job when loaned out to the Danish Superliga club (Randers or Horsens, can't recall??), before getting injured again.

[hodgkiss]

Doneil has played well with most clubs he has been with when he sticks to his role. I found that with TFC in particular, he made up for some lousy defending by his teammates and when taken out of position, that hole was either exposed or he dove in to make a challenge. He is certainly not a finesse player and perhaps a little clumsy too but his marking was generally good and he pretty much got his head on every ball in each team's box. His distribution of the ball was okay at best.

I wish him all the best and hope that his injuries don't cause him any serious time away form the sport. Hopefully he can catch on with a team of opportunity, sticks to a simple game and eventually a return to a higher level and the CMNT.

Attakora has has a similar fate for a RB. Would love to see him return to the fray as well. 

[Kent]

Doneil was constantly getting red cards just like he was constantly scoring goals. Someone said he had 2 red cards (not sure if that was just MLS play) and according to transfermarkt he scored 5 goals for TFC. Selective memory I think.

Yes, he made some bad decisions on the field, but the things he wasn't good at are things that are coachable. The things he is good at are hard to coach. For that reason I think he could still be a very good player, and has the best chance of being a dominant CB once 2022 qualifying comes around out of all the guys in our player pool in my opinion. Of course it all comes down to his health and playing opportunities. My fingers are crossed for him.

[matty]

11 hours ago, jpg75 said:

He's 24, that's not young anymore, especially in Europe.

Yea he's not a prospect anymore really. Sure he can still get work in Europe.

Also don't think he's CPL bound yet

[BearcatSA]

1 hour ago, hodgkiss said:

Doneil has played well with most clubs he has been with when he sticks to his role. I found that with TFC in particular, he made up for some lousy defending by his teammates and when taken out of position, that hole was either exposed or he dove in to make a challenge. He is certainly not a finesse player and perhaps a little clumsy too but his marking was generally good and he pretty much got his head on every ball in each team's box. His distribution of the ball was okay at best.

I wish him all the best and hope that his injuries don't cause him any serious time away form the sport. Hopefully he can catch on with a team of opportunity, sticks to a simple game and eventually a return to a higher level and the CMNT.

Attakora has has a similar fate for a RB. Would love to see him return to the fray as well. 

IIRC I thought he played his best at TFC when teamed with an old head alongside him, in this case Caldwell.  The biggest problem he had with decision making was that too often he was looking for the "big play" ball takeaway, hence the diving in and bad things happening.  And unfortunately, after making a mistake he often would lose concentration and make more errors in quick succession (re-watch the WCQ and you'll see what I am alluding to.  And no, that has nothing to do with his being played out of position, imo) .  Sometimes that's just a younger player thing but also could be a character issue, hard to say.  But with most players, except perhaps Titus Bramble or Micah Richards at Villa, the brain cramps go away with experience.

Love to see Henry bounce back as a potential V's Comeback Player of the Year.  Hopefully he can get the injuries behind him and just get playing again

.

 

[Blackjack15]

He's just not the same player he used to be. Time to move on and stop looking at the past! Unless something drastically changes, where he can reach the type of level he had it's hard to see him with the national team.  

[jonovision]

1 minute ago, Blackjack15 said:

He's just not the same player he used to be. Time to move on and stop looking at the past! Unless something drastically changes, where he can reach the type of level he had it's hard to see him with the national team.  

Look at our CB pool for this Gold Cup. If Henry gets himself playing at any sort of decent level he deserves to be in the mix.

Edited July 19, 2017 by jonovision

[dyslexic nam]

I am in the camp that definitely won't write him off yet.  The injury string really blows, but at 24 he still has 6-8 years of playing time - and was a top prospect for us when younger.  I doubt he will ever hit his full potential in the same way that he would have without the inuries, but if he was to somehow get healthy tomorrow, there is a good chance he would walk back into our nat team after getting some matches under his belt.  The fact that he signed with an EPL club  means that some people who know a whole lot about footy saw some qualities suggesting he could be an elite player.  We can't afford to dismiss talented payers in areas on the pitch where we are thin - and looking at some succession problems in the coming years.