Dean Henderson’s permanent departure from Manchester United had been more or less assumed heading into the summer transfer window.
After Nottingham Forest took him on loan last season, Henderson had said that he was “fuming” at his parent club for “wasting” a year of his career.
His desire for first team football along with his willingness to burn bridges at United seemed to make his exit little more than a formality.
But things can change quickly in football and, according to 90mins, Dean Henderson is now set to stay at Old Trafford.
Despite impressing at Forest last term, the Midlands side have opted to sign Matt Turner from Arsenal instead.
At the time, it was thought that the club would still be back in for Henderson, such was their appreciation of his performances before his season-ending injury in January.
But, as reported by The Peoples Person, it has been a long road to recovery and, at one stage, fears that he would fail a medical were suggested as a possible reason for the delay of a permanent switch.
Injuries reared their ugly head again on the eve of the Premier League season, this time for Tom Heaton, who suffered a calf injury that will leave him unavailable for a few weeks.
With no senior backup to Andre Onana besides Henderson, and waning interest from Nottingham Forest, it seems that the academy graduate will not be getting his transfer this summer.
He has, according to 90mins, been “told in no uncertain terms” that he will be playing second fiddle to Erik ten Hag’s £42m summer signing in the event that no club matches United’s asking price this month. In essence, he has been sent to the bench.
That price is thought to be in excess of £20m, with reports from earlier in the window suggesting it may have been as much as £30m including performance-related bonuses. Given his bumper £120,000-a-week contract and recent injury issues, that would be something of a coup for Manchester United.
Whether Henderson manages to move in this window or not, it seems highly unlikely that he will have a long term future at the club. He may well feature in cup matches under Erik ten Hag for this season (or, at least, part of it), but the Englishman is unhappy with his situation and likely to cause problems somewhere down the line.