Dean Henderson glad to be done with “toughest months” of his career after leaving Man United

Dean Henderson has opened up about the frustration he felt at Manchester United last season having not made as many appearances as he was promised.

The goalkeeper claims he was assured that he would be the number one choice at the club after a hugely successful loan spell at Sheffield United.

Back in June 2018, Manchester United sent a young Henderson out on loan to join Sheffield United in the Championship until the end of the 2018–2019 season.

He helped them secure promotion to the Premier League winning the club’s Young Player of the Year Award and the Championship’s Golden Glove.

His efforts had helped Sheffield United keep 20 clean sheets over the course of the season. He returned on loan to Sheffield United the following season where he made his Premier League debut and had another remarkable season as an essential part of a very good defense.

Signing a new long term contract, the 25-year-old remained at the Manchester club managing 26 appearances and even made his debut for England within the 2020-2021 season.

However, last season didn’t go so well, having made just three appearances for United for the entirety of the season. David de Gea firmly retained his spot as the club’s first-choice goalkeeper, justifying his selection with several outstanding displays.

In an interview with talkSPORT, Henderson shed some light on what according to him was “the toughest 12 months of my career”.

“I turned so many good loans down last summer for that reason (being assured the No.1 spot), and they wouldn’t let me go,” he disclosed.

“It was frustrating. To sit there and waste 12 months is criminal really, at my age. I was fuming.”

He went on to say: “The conversation I had, coming out of the Euro squad, was that you’re coming back here to be the number one goalkeeper. I got Covid – unfortunately, no one followed through with anything they told me.”

Last month, the Englishman joined newly promoted Nottingham Forest on loan for the season, and says he tried to speed up his departure.

“I didn’t really want the manager to come in and see me in training because I knew that he’d probably want to keep me so I tried to do it all before I left for the season.

“I told the hierarchy that I need to be playing football, I don’t want to be here and play second fiddle, it was planned out. I was almost gone before the manager (Erik ten Hag) came through the door. I have not spoken to him since.”

Henderson clearly has a lot of belief in his abilities and will have to back it up with his performances for Nottingham Forest in the coming season in a bid to convince Man United why they should make him number one.

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