Welsh international Hennessey signs for Clarets
Wayne Hennessey is one of a cluster of players whose contracts came to an end at Crystal Palace last month and today the 34-year-old goalkeeper has joined Burnley despite us having competition from Aston Villa and Chelsea. He has signed a two year deal with an option for a third year.
Hennessey started his career with Wolves with Palace his only other permanent club although he did make his first team debut while on loan away from Wolves. He went to Bristol City but didn’t get a game although things went well when he joined Stockport, then in League Two, on loan in January 2007.
Stockport won in all of his first nine games; not only that, he didn’t concede a single goal in those victories which broke a 119-year-old Football League record. When he did eventually concede a goal at Barnet, he’d set a club record of 857 minutes without conceding.
He returned to Wolves and stepped straight into the team following an injury to Matt Murray, making his debut in the Championship play-off defeats against local rivals West Brom.
He established himself as first choice for a time at Molineux but then won himself an unwanted record when Wolves failed to keep a clean sheet in 30 consecutive league games which led to their relegation from the Premier League.
A cruciate ligament injury saw him lose his place at Wolves and when fit he went out on loan to Yeovil, then a division higher than Wolves. He spent the first half of the 2013/14 season at Huish Park and moved to Crystal Palace in the January of that season.
He was the first choice at Selhurst Park until the last two seasons when Vincente Guaita took over as first team goalkeeper. That led to his release and this move to Burnley where he will offer some experienced cover, a player with over 320 league and cup games to his name along with 96 full caps for Wales, a total currently only bettered by Chris Gunter and four more than goalkeeping predecessor Neville Southall.
Goalkeeping coach Billy Mercer was delighted with the signing. “Just look at his record,” he said. “He has played 96 times for Wales and 181 Premier League games, so he’s got bags of experience. He is a top-class goalkeeper and a great professional. We’ve done a lot of homework finding out about his background and he is everything you want at a football club. He is very supportive if he’s not playing, which is vital because we pride ourselves on the team spirit we have here. He’s a great addition to what we already have as a great group of goalkeepers.”
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