Rico Henry opens up on reasons behind ‘laughable’ Aston Villa rejection
Latest Aston Villa news from BirminghamLive includes Rico Henry on the reasons behind his rejection
Rico Henry has revealed that Aston Villa rejected him because he was ‘too timid and not big enough’.
Henry spent time on trial with Villa during his youth but he wasn’t signed by the club’s academy. The Brentford defender and his Villa-supporting dad switched allegiances to Birmingham City as a result of the rejection.
“I was 11, 12 years old but teams were saying I was too timid and not big enough,” Henry told the Guardian. “It gave me more fire. You’ve got to learn from it. You can’t get too down. You’ve got to keep going. I think maybe the way I played, going into tackles, I was probably not as aggressive as I could have been. I learned as I got older to be more aggressive in certain situations. It was hard but I got through it.”
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Henry also had trials with Blues and West Bromwich Albion before dropping down to League One club Walsall, where he made his name as a marauding full-back under Dean Smith.
“It's heartbreaking.” said Henry. “Especially when you’re young. You can’t do anything about it. But I sort of knew it would work out. I had a lot of pace. I looked up to left-backs like Jordi Alba, who’s short. Marcelo and Ashley Cole weren’t the tallest. I always believed in myself. I knew there were other players in the same position who were a similar height to me.”
Henry has been instrumental in Brentford’s rise since joining from Walsall seven years ago. The 25-year-old defender is now chasing European football with Brentford, who currently sit ninth in the Premier League with five games to play, and wants to force his way into Gareth Southgate's England set-up.
“It’s going to be tough with Luke Shaw and Ben Chilwell ahead of me,” said Henry. “It did hurt in a way (missing out on last squad) because I think I can play at that level. But I’ve got to concentrate on Brentford and keep doing what I can.
“One of my big dreams is to play international football. To play in a top-six team in the Premier League has always been a dream. I’m not there yet. I want to play in Europe. I want to play in tournaments.”
Those rejections don’t hurt so much now. “Back then it was more long ball,” Henry says. “But I don’t mind. Looking back, it’s obviously laughable. But it’s helped me progress.”
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