Ten Hag clashed with Dean Henderson as "criminal" Man Utd relationship discussed

01 February 2023 , 12:49

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Manchester United boss Erik ten Hag spoke to goalkeeper Dean Henderson, on loan at Nottingham Forest, for the first time last month but the two did not find much common ground.

Ten Hag held a phone call with the shot-stopper to persuade him to cut short his time at the City Ground to return to United. The Dutchman reached out to Henderson after Martin Dubravka's loan spell at Old Trafford ended as he returned to Newcastle.

Henderson was told that his development would be better served if he returned to his parent club instead of continuing with Forest. However, no agreement between the two was found, and United moved on swiftly to draft in Jack Butland from Crystal Palace on loan for the remainder of the campaign.

United youth graduate Henderson, 25, has previously spoken out against his treatment by his parent club. The fact he had not spoken to Ten Hag prior to January shows the strained relations between the goalkeeper and United, where he does not appear to have any long-term future.

Henderson is due to return to Old Trafford this summer but United are actively working on signing a new first-choice goalkeeper while also renewing the contract of David De Gea, albeit on reduced terms.

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Henderson's refusal to return in January may have lessened his chances of a long-term United future.

Currently out injured, the goalkeeper may not feature as prominently for Nottingham Forest in the second half of the campaign after Steve Cooper's side drafted in Keylor Navas from Paris Saint-Germain. The Costa Rican is likely to be the first-choice goalkeeper now, while Wayne Hennessey remains at the club as an understudy.

Have Your Say! Was Henderson right to reject the chance to return to Man Utd? Tell us what you think here.

Dean Henderson is on loan at Nottingham Forest from Man United (Jon Hobley/MI News/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Henderson had been expected to take over as United's first-choice goalkeeper last season after De Gea endured a difficult campaign, but things did not go as planned for Henderson – who initially suffered Covid-19 as the Spaniard recovered form.

The shot-stopper made just three senior appearances in total throughout his and the club's ill-fated campaign, with none of those outings coming in the Premier League. He has subsequently established himself as Forest's undisputed number one this term.

Speaking back in August to talkSport, Henderson lamented: "I didn't want the manager (Ten Hag) to come in and be able to see me in training. I knew he'd probably want to keep me, so I tried to do it all before I left for the season. I told the hierarchy I need to go and play football, I don't want to be here playing second fiddle.

Henderson saved two penalties for Nottingham Forest in their EFL Cup quarter-final shootout win (Catherine Ivill/Getty Images)

"It was all planned out. I was almost gone before the manager came through the door and I haven't spoken to him since. To be honest with you, it's probably been the toughest 12 months of my career. It's been tough, it's been hard and I'm so happy I've got out the other end of it. I'm so excited to be here and ready to go."

Henderson went on to detail what he saw as broken promises from United: "The conversation I had coming out of that Euros squad was ' you're coming back here to be the number one goalkeeper'. I got Covid, and come back, I should have still been the number one, but unfortunately, no one followed through with anything they told me.

"It was frustrating because I turned down so many good loans last summer for that reason and they wouldn't let me go. So, it was frustrating. To sit there and waste 12 months, it's criminal really at my age.

"I was fuming. But I worked hard off the pitch and on the training pitch to keep improving day in, day out. So I'm really excited to be here. I'm looking forward to the season with Forest."