Dean Henderson has broken his silence on leaving Manchester United on loan for Nottingham Forest ahead of the new season.
The 25-year-old left Old Trafford to ensure regular first team football at a top-flight club after spending last season sat on the bench – playing second fiddle to David de Gea.
This will be his sixth loan spell away from United since he joined the club in 2015 and there are still high hopes for Henderson at the club.
After two successive loan spells at Sheffield United, he returned to United, making several appearances under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer throughout the following season.
However, then Henderson’s game time was cut significantly.
This summer he left United to join Steve Cooper’s Forest side and has given an honest interview to talkSPORT about his circumstances.
“I didn’t want him to see me in training,” Henderson said when asked if he spoke to Erik ten Hag before moving on loan. “Because I knew that he probably wanted to keep me. So I told the hierarchy that I want to play football and don’t want to play second fiddle. I took the decision to leave before the manager came in.”
Henderson also revealed that he regrets staying at United last season, adding: “Last summer when I was promising the No.1 spot, I had rejected multiple loan proposals and that caused a lot of regret. It was really difficult to stay on [the] bench.”
I mean, if Henderson was promised regular first team football last season, he has every reason to be annoyed.
“The conversation I had, coming out of the Euros squad, was that you’re coming back at Manchester United to be the No.1 goalkeeper,” Henderson continued. “I got COVID-19 and unfortunately no one followed through with anything they told me.”
The shot-stopper has a contract at United running until 2025.
It remains to be seen if he will be the keeper to replace De Gea has first choice.
He replaced DDG when his wife was having their child, and DDG sat quietly on the bench, then Henderson caught Covid, and DDG got his place back, and since then has been United’s outstanding player, so Henderson has nothing to complain about. A real professional would get his head down and work hard and wait for his opportunity, not cry about it.
Henderson would be better to leave Utd on a permanent deal. He won’t get a run in the team or have the no. 1 shirt until DDG retires. I think he is mad to hang around.