Season › 2015-16 › News Everton confirm acquisition of Henen Lyndon Lloyd , 2 July, 34comments | Jump to most recent Belgian teen finally signs Everton have officially announced the arrival of David Henen as a permanent signing from Olympiakos. The 19-year-old signed a three-year contract at Finch Farm yesterday, making him a full-time Blues player a year after he was originally expected to sign. A highly promising product of Anderlecht's youth system, Henen spent a season on loan at Monaco before spending last summer on an extended trial at Finch Farm. He looked set to join the Blues following protracted negotiations with the Belgian club but ended up signing for the Greeks and then being loaned to Everton's U21s team for 2014-15. Everton retained first option on buying him outright, however, and both David Unsworth and Roberto Martinez saw enough of Henen's ability last term when he scored six goals before an injury temporarily ended his season to decide to exercise it. “I am so happy,” the Belgian U19 international told evertonfc.com. “Everton are a big club and I feel I can develop here. “For a young player it is the best club because they try to develop youngsters. It is perfect for me." Reader Comments (34) Note: the following content is not moderated or vetted by the site owners at the time of submission. Comments are the responsibility of the poster. Disclaimer Jake Lucas 1 Posted 02/07/2015 at 15:42:31 I havenÂ’t seen much of the kid to make a justifiable judgment; however, I have faith that, if Unsy wanted to keep him after a year's trail, then he must have proved his worth and potential.Might be worth giving the kid the nod in front of Kone so we expose him to first-team football and help aid his development. Hope to see him in the Carling Cup at the very least this season. Stephen O'Donnell 2 Posted 02/07/2015 at 15:53:26 Totally agree, Jake, well said... I hope we get to see him in the first team ASAP. Mark Andersson 3 Posted 02/07/2015 at 15:51:31 Henen seems an okay prospect according to some of our more informed fans. Most are not convinced about Henen going on loan, so the pressure is on Martinez to get the balance right. Minik Hansen 4 Posted 02/07/2015 at 16:20:01 I agree with you, Jake, I hope we see him in preseason matches as well, want to see how he does with our squad. Brin Williams 5 Posted 02/07/2015 at 16:29:17 WeÂ’ll be bulging with Belgians before long! Charlie Burnett 6 Posted 02/07/2015 at 16:30:57 YouTube him – there is a video of all his best bits of his time on loan at Everton. The boy looks mustard – runs at players with confidence; I was impressed. Dick Brady 8 Posted 02/07/2015 at 17:27:54 I just donÂ’t see what Olympiakos get from this transfer? Why did he sign for Olympiakos in the first place? It doesnÂ’t make any sense and I know I shouldnÂ’t care but I do. Something rotten about that whole Olympiakos deal. Trevor Lynes 9 Posted 02/07/2015 at 18:06:19 Unfortunately young Henen will be touted as a new signing even though he will not be in the first team squad.This board will count him amongst the transfer window acquisitions while they continue to dither over making a meaningful signing that will excite the fans. Mick Wrende 10 Posted 02/07/2015 at 18:08:05 He could step straight in the side now instead of the lazy lump up front Chris James 11 Posted 02/07/2015 at 18:25:44 Olympiakos got like €200k I think for doing very little.We saved money also as itÂ’d have cost us more to buy him direct I think. Sean Kelly 12 Posted 02/07/2015 at 18:28:38 Dick. Greece is in a bailout situation and Billy liar is the bailiff. Mark Robson 13 Posted 02/07/2015 at 19:46:57 Charlie (#6), I just looked at the 10 minute YouTube clip. I agree, great attacking threat, positive running at defenders and bags of skill combined with quick feet. Probably needs more time as crosses appear a bit flat at times and some wayward shooting and poor decision-making but that is being very critical as game time and a gradual step up to the first-team will develop his game and his peers will encourage the right choices. Exciting to see more options especially with Deulofeu rejoining. A couple more key positional signings (first-team ready) and I will be very excited about the new season. I didnÂ’t see 1984-85 coming but, all of a sudden, everything just jelled and came together. HereÂ’s to a young crop with potential and the addition of some key experience and some luck. COYB Andrew Presly 14 Posted 02/07/2015 at 20:47:21 Due to be loaned out to a Championship club this season apparently. He tweeted it was Bolton then removed it. Ross Edwards 15 Posted 02/07/2015 at 20:47:35 YouTube videos of players offer no indication whatsoever of a playerÂ’s ability. You could make any player look like Messi. I remember when we were linked with McGeady and I watched a skills and goals vid about him and thought "Wow, talented player, could be decent," and heÂ’s been the complete opposite. Geoffrey Risebrow 16 Posted 02/07/2015 at 20:26:22 Welcome aboard, David! Great to see another youngster signing. LetÂ’s hope he is more Wayne Rooney than Scott Spencer! Jamie Sweet 18 Posted 02/07/2015 at 22:19:53 Young, fast, direct, cheap. WhatÂ’s not to like?One of the most likely to succeed from the U21Â’s I think. Tom Bowers 19 Posted 02/07/2015 at 23:29:14 If heÂ’s fast and ready, letÂ’s get him playing. God knows, Kone isnÂ’t quick and neither is Naismith. ItÂ’s the younger hungrier players who can pressure the current shoe-ins who may be getting the bigger paycheques and think they can coast along. Please, RM donÂ’t ship him out on loan unless he flops, which seems unlikely considering all the work that went into getting him. Ant Dwyer 20 Posted 02/07/2015 at 23:41:25 IÂ’d get this lad loaned out to a Championship club and see what heÂ’s made of. Good news heÂ’s now an official blue. Phil Sammon 21 Posted 03/07/2015 at 00:39:51 Trevor 9Â’This board will count him amongst the transfer window acquisitions while they continue to dither over making a meaningful signing that will excite the fans.Â’IÂ’m no fan of the board... but itÂ’s 3rd of July and weÂ’ve signed Deulofeu, Cleverley and Henen. On day three of the transfer window, IÂ’ll happily take that. Brian Porter 22 Posted 03/07/2015 at 01:18:13 Hard to count this as a new signing when heÂ’s been with us for a year already and it was always intended that his loan would become a full time move as long as he made the grade. But, considering the reputation he carried with him when he arrived, he should be ready for inclusion in the first team squad, not being sent out on loan to some Championship team. If heÂ’s that good we need him here, not plying his trade for someone else. WhatÂ’s the point of signing him just to do what his previous club did? Use him or lose him. Otherwise I just donÂ’t see the point of taking him on full time. If heÂ’s good enough, heÂ’s old enough. Craig Fletcher 23 Posted 03/07/2015 at 01:28:29 Maybe a short-term loan for Henen, but IÂ’d like to see him back around December / January when we inevitably pick up a few injuries :). Dan Parker 24 Posted 03/07/2015 at 03:40:43 I hope he has better luck than George Green... Time will tell. Great addition though! Minik Hansen 25 Posted 03/07/2015 at 03:49:01 Other than Lukaku, we need a striker with experience. Kone been unlucky, letÂ’s hope something good happens. (Either he hits the form shown from preseason early in next season, or we sign a striker early or late; I donÂ’t care as long as we sign a decent one.) Victor Yu 26 Posted 03/07/2015 at 05:23:13 To complete the cycle, we should loan him to Olympiakos for a season now. Anthony Flack 27 Posted 03/07/2015 at 08:05:06 If we loan him out in the short term, then there is no chance of League Cup experience, as we usually go out in the 3rd round.... Ernie Baywood 28 Posted 03/07/2015 at 11:29:54 Ross (#15) When considering most YouTube videos, I would be inclined to agree. Usually they take the 5 good things from the last 6 seasons and replay them over and over. But this was countless highlights from just one season – how many games did he play? Of course itÂ’s a lower level but itÂ’s his age group. I was quite impressed. ThereÂ’s some raw talent to work with. Matt Muzi 29 Posted 03/07/2015 at 14:44:13 Phil@21 completely agree,three players in already, with relatively small outlay. (I donÂ’t know what CleverleyÂ’s signing on fee is, so I may be wrong.)IÂ’m happy weÂ’ve signed Henen, he has potential and throughout this itÂ’s come across to me that he wants to play for us.I think it may go quiet for a bit now while the players come back & pre-season training starts, then start up again in August. Terry McLavey 31 Posted 03/07/2015 at 18:34:07 There is a You Tube clip: search "David Hennen, Everton". Worth a look. I was impressed. Drew Shortis 32 Posted 05/07/2015 at 09:50:58 I donÂ’t know why Henen didnÂ’t stick it out at Anderlecht and sign on for a few more years with them. They have a great reputation for bringing through young talent and if he lived up to his potential then he could have secured a move to a Premier League team once he had established himself as a regular starter. I know us Evertonians resent having our young talent poached and IÂ’m sure Anderlecht fans feel the same, especially when they leave on such nominal fees. It looks like the whole Olympiakos thing was a way to side-step compensation to the team that developed him as a youngster. Of course I will be glad if it turns out that we have got a future superstar for loose change, but the whole transfer saga does leave a slightly bad taste in my mouth if it turns out we have done a Dan Gosling on them. At his age I would have thought that a nominal transfer fee with performance-based incentives would have been a fair deal. IÂ’m glad to see we are playing hard-ball in the transfer market as we wonÂ’t get anywhere being the nice guys, but I am concerned if it means we are screwing over smaller clubs in the same manner that we complain about being screwed over by the CL teams! Eugene Kearney 33 Posted 05/07/2015 at 13:35:03 Hope he gets a run-out in the pre-season matches and shows what heÂ’s capable of... we need another striker thatÂ’s ready and settled in and firing on all cylinders. Tommy Webber 34 Posted 06/07/2015 at 16:15:47 Expecting big things from this kid one day.. Just hope he gets a fair crack at the whip this season. Unless we get another stellar signing upfront, he simply has to get the nod along side Lukaku! Lee Courtliff 35 Posted 06/07/2015 at 19:16:10 Never trust YouTube videos. We all know that we could have made Bilyaletdinov look like a world beater during his time with us if weÂ’d simply uploaded vids of his goals against Manure, Pompey ,Wolves, etc.Sadly, that wasnÂ’t quite true. Sam Hoare 36 Posted 06/07/2015 at 19:23:42 He just favorited a tweet apparently saying he might be off to Leeds on loan. A season starting and hopefully scoring goals in Championship or League One would be good for him. Michael O'Brien 37 Posted 07/07/2015 at 06:42:43 I think itÂ’s just good to see players putting pen to paper really... maybe it was always destined to happen, but hopefully the lad will come good! 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