Written by Juan Pereira

Photo by Jorge Sapon (@DynamoFanTV)

Few players can say that they’ve signed a professional contract with a historic Premier League club like Everton. Few players can say that they were teammates with the starting goalkeeper of the England national football team. Yet Nico Hansen, a 23-year-old goalkeeper from Southwest Ranches, Florida, was able to do all of this before entering his mid 20s. And yet, he’s always been in the background, never getting a true chance to progress to the next level. 

Until now. 

Hansen has gone wherever the wind takes him. Nico played for the USYNT in his mid teens before representing Denmark at the U19 level. He joined Everton via scholarship in 2017 and signed his first professional contract with the team in 2019. However, the young prospect didn’t get any first team minutes at Everton and only featured a handful of times in Premier League 2, so he was shipped to Swansea City, where he didn’t get any playing time either. Then, he made a move to the lower English leagues with Atherton Collieries. It was from there that Houston decided to take a chance with him. 

Fast forward to July 21, 2024, and Nico Hansen just held his second clean sheet for Houston Dynamo’s MLS NEXT Pro team in an intense derby match against North Texas SC, which ended with Houston winning by four. The Dynamo shotstopper made a couple important saves, acting in a similar manner to his former teammate Jordan Pickford, who he has drawn a lot of inspiration from. 

“I mean, you always get a great experience, you know, over there (in England) when you're training with top players,” Nico Hansen said in our postgame chat. “You're always working on your craft. So, it's always good (to learn from those players).” 

Just like Pickford, Hansen kept the backline organized throughout the match. He was vocal and made sure his defenders understood the assignment, which is a quality that coaches appreciate highly. 

“That's what we've been working on, you know, all week. Just the relationship between our defenders, all the forwards, the way we want to press, so it's good to keep that momentum going,” Hansen said. “Now, we just have to keep carrying on, and hopefully, we get another clean sheet next game as well.”

Throughout the match, you could hear Hansen hollering at his defense and giving them instructions, even in a game which featured little absolute threat to his box. This mentality keeps Nico locked into the task at hand, even if the action isn’t going his way. 

“I'm always yelling at them,” Hansen said with a slight chuckle. “That allows me to keep my head in the game.” 

All of his screaming and vocalness happens for a reason: Hansen has recently been getting minutes due to Xavier Valdez, the Dynamo 2 starting goalkeeper, being away with international duty. Now, he is finally getting his opportunity to show the Dynamo and other possible suitors what he can bring to the table not only as a goalkeeper but as a leader. 

“That's every kid's dream,” Hansen said. “When you're playing in the academy (or) for the second team, you always want to bump up (into) the first team. So, my aspirations are big and hopefully one day (I can make it).”