Euan Henderson won’t be putting his feet up this summer as he looks to build on his Hearts breakthrough.
The 20-year-old is now a first team squad regular at Hearts under Robbie Neilson, and ended the Championship campaign in good form after being in and out of the starting XI.
Henderson scored a stylish second and won a penalty for the champions in their final game of the season at Raith, not long after running the length of the pitch to terrify Alloa into conceding one at Tynecastle.
The glimpses of what the coaching staff have seen in him are now becoming more regular, but Henderson is about to rest on his laurels and will be putting in the work ahead of the Jambos return to the Premiership.
“I’ve agreed with the sports scientists that I’ll go in over the summer,” he told the Edinburgh Evening News. “I’m going to take one week off and then go in three days a week,” he said. “I’ll do some gym work and make sure I’m still fit and raring to go when training starts back. I hope to have a head start on other boys. I’m really keen to do that and keep my momentum going.
“You see the top guys and they don’t take any time off. If they’re the best, you want to replicate what they do. I want to improve as a player season after season. I want to come back fitter and give myself the best opportunity to really kick on.
“If you go away for the summer and come back unfit, you’re a step behind. Hopefully this works for me. It’s all good for me and will prepare me in the right way.
“Hopefully I can get games at the start of the season and show what I can do. We will see how things go but I’m very confident going into next season.”
There will be some down time, but “Hendo” is planning on using it wisely given the normal option of jetting off somewhere isn’t available to him.
He added: “I’ll play golf and play my Playstation while I’m off. That’s another thing, you can’t go anywhere like abroad so there’s no harm going into the training ground over the summer and doing extra stuff. I’m happy with that arrangement. Instead of being stuck at home, I get to go in and train.”
