Regarding his personal football narrative, the new addition to Huddersfield Town has been to the school of hard knocks multiple times.
For example, he was turned down by Rochdale when he was a teenager, and he later failed to secure a contract with another club despite making multiple attempts throughout his youth.
In his most recent opportunity to return to England, Healey struggled to establish himself at his previous club, Watford, after shining at Toulouse in the French league.
Currently, he is in Huddersfield with the intention of catching up on some lost time.
Healey’s adolescence, in spite of early setbacks, was the formative years.
It created a determination to succeed in spite of early rejection.
Healey, a native of Manchester and a lifelong Manchester City supporter who relocated to the Principality with his family after Rochdale let him go, earned his opportunity in the Cymru Premier at Connah’s Quay Nomads by playing youth football in Wales.
It suited Healey, but it was by no means the conventional academy route that many young players follow. Cardiff City pounced following a solid haul of goals.
Healey has a clear response when asked if having a few doors slammed in his face early in life made him think football might not be for him.
“No, never,” he said to The Yorkshire Post. I’ve always been the type of person who will obtain what they desire.
“I just put it down to coaches, or whatever teams I was on, who would get it out of me. I knew I had something from a young age. After receiving that and moving to Cardiff, I really started going.
“I was playing before I was sixteen years old and wasn’t an adult when I was at Connah’s Quay.” I was competing against players who had dropped down to that level after playing in the (EFL) league for almost 300 games.
It gave me the impression that I would be entering a formal setting. It wasn’t fun for me to get kicked every week, but that’s the nature of men’s football.
“I used to come and play with them on the weekends when I was in school and college. All I could do was appreciate it, and I knew it would lead to something.
“I was playing with a smile on my face when, fortunately, I was given the chance to enter a professional setting.”
During his tenure at Cardiff, Healey is well-known for making his Premier League debut on the last day of the 2013–14 season, coming on as a substitute for his childhood idol Craig Bellamy in a match against Chelsea.
Healey benefited by rubbing shoulders with Bellamy and being coached for a spell by another legendary striker, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, but following a string of loans, he discovered a real football home with MK Dons, under Russell Martin.
Healey, who made his Terriers debut in the Championship draw against Blackburn Rovers on Saturday, will rekindle his friendship with Martin when Town travels to Southampton on February 10 of the following month.
During Healey’s stay in Buckinghamshire, Martin was able to successfully cultivate the pure footballing style that is being played there.
Following a successful loan period, he was able to gain a full-time position. He ended the 2019–20 season as MK’s top scorer with 12 goals in 20 appearances, earning him the players’ player of the year title from the club.
Under Martin, Healey not only scored goals but also became a “footballing” striker; as a result, he made an unexpected move to Toulouse in France.
His experience with Martin prepared him well for the intricacies of French football. He was so good that in his first two seasons in France, he scored 34 league goals to help Toulouse win promotion to Ligue 1.
After scoring 20 goals in the league, he was included in the Ligue 2 Team of the Year for 2022–2023.
From a football perspective, he has Martin to thank, but he’s not slow to give credit to his biggest fan.
The 29-year-old Healey, who left Watford to sign a two-and-a-half-year contract with Town, went on: “My partner has been there from the beginning. She is the main person.” She has supported me during my difficult times.
“I’ve had a lot of coaches support me throughout, and everything has worked out well. Though it has taken a while, everyone has participated in the game.
Russell is most likely the coach that helped me reach new heights and bring out aspects of myself that I wasn’t aware I have because of what he has done and the way he has played. He instructed me to proceed from there to Toulouse since he knew how much I can develop out there.
“I owe him everything; he helped shape me into the player I am today.
It was one of my fondest periods of my tenure in Toulouse and a really great time. There, my family and I welcomed a baby, and the football was fantastic. I’m over that now, but I’ll always cherish the pleasant memories I have of my time in France.
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