Dean Henderson joined Manchester United's academy as a teenager and he dreamed of becoming the club's starting goalkeeper.
In the summer of 2021, he was within touching distance of realising that ambition when Ole Gunnar Solskjaer gave him assurances that he'd be the first-choice goalkeeper for the new season, a promise that wasn't subsequently kept.
Henderson contracted Covid-19 and he struggled with 'prolonged fatigue', meaning he was unavailable for the opening game of the 2021/22 Premier League season. David de Gea started that game instead and never looked back.
De Gea made a brilliant start to the campaign and he changed Solskjaer's mind. Henderson was stuck on the bench when he returned and having been promised the starting berth a few months previously, he was aggrieved at the situation.
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The academy product spent the year on the bench and he was limited to just five appearances, and started to contemplate his long-term future at the club.
Henderson was born in Whitehaven and it's understood that when he was a child, he regularly insisted the only two clubs that he wanted to play for were Carlisle United and Manchester United.
With that context, his reaction to the season is perhaps easier to understand. Henderson was frustrated and he felt let down, which led to him sitting down with talkSPORT for a punchy interview after signing for Nottingham Forest on loan.
Henderson wanted to tell his side of the story and didn't hold back, saying: "To be honest, it has probably been the toughest 12 months of my career. It has been tough, hard, and I am so happy I have gone out the other end of it.
"The conversation I had coming out of the Euros squad was 'you're coming back here to be the No.1.' I got Covid, came back, so I should have still been the No.1, but then unfortunately nobody followed through with what they had told me.
"To sit there and waste 12 months, it is criminal really, at my age, I was fuming. I didn't really want the manager (Erik ten Hag) to come in and see me in [2022-23 pre-season] 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 came through the door. I have not spoken to him since."
Henderson always dreamt of being the first-choice goalkeeper at United and that was within his grasp before Solskjaer unexpectedly took the opportunity away upon his return from illness, something he clearly felt was wrong and unjust.
Solskjaer must take the blame for mismanaging the situation, but Henderson did and does not have a divine right to start for the club and that's why his comments in the interview last year went down like a lead balloon among supporters.
Although Henderson has never been short of confidence, some have suggested that his self-belief can occasionally turn into arrogance and saying 'he knew Ten Hag would want to keep him' was perceived as that.
There was a feeling Henderson burnt his bridges with the interview and that he'd never play for the club again and that might be true, despite De Gea now looking increasingly likely to leave on a free transfer at the end of the month.
Henderson has waited years for De Gea to be out of the picture at Old Trafford, but now that's genuinely a possibility, he might not be able to take advantage, with his provocative comments last summer still fresh in the memory.
The 26-year-old enjoyed a reasonable season at Nottingham Forest and would have been in a decent position to take the No.1 spot this summer if not for his talkSPORT interview, so he can only blame himself if he can't come back from it.
As most have suspected, the interview might have burnt his bridges at the club, although stranger things have definitely happened in football and it's not beyond the realms of possibility the episode is internally addressed and forgotten.
Making Henderson the No.1 goalkeeper next season would be the pragmatic option, as it would allow strengthening other positions to be prioritised and he's expected to sit down with Ten Hag this summer to discuss his next move.
Henderson's departure is still the most likely outcome, but it wouldn't be a total shock for him to finally achieve his dream of being the first-choice goalkeeper next season, something which he's worked for since he was a child in Cumbria.
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