Dean Henderson could miss Manchester United’s pre-season tour of the United States as he pushes to be sold.
The goalkeeper is expected to complete a £30m move to Nottingham Forest having spent last season on loan with Steve Cooper’s team, making 18 appearances. United are expected to sign Andre Onana from Inter Milan in the coming hours following a breakthrough in talks, while head coach Erik ten Hag is pushing for a second goalkeeper to arrive.
David de Gea’s future remains up in the air after he became a free agent last week following a saga in which he was offered a new contract that was subsequently pulled. But Henderson has known for some time that he is not part of Ten Hag’s plans and might not be on the plane to America for four games against Arsenal, Wrexham, Real Madrid and Borussia Dortmund.
United are set to face Leeds in Oslo next week and they are also set to face Lyon in Edinburgh and Athletic Bilbao in Dublin in the space of four weeks. The 26-year-old's relationship with the club’s hierarchy was strained following controversial comments made by the one-cap England international last summer.
In an interview with Talksport, Henderson described his treatment by United as “criminal” and claimed he had been promised the role of first-choice at Old Trafford only for the club to renege. "To be honest, it has probably been the toughest 12 months of my career,” Henderson said. “It was frustrating, because I turned down so many good loans last summer for that reason, and they would not let me go.
"The conversation I had coming out of the Euros squad was: 'You're coming back here to be the number one.' I got Covid-19, came back, so I should have still been the number one but then nobody followed through with what they had told me.
"To sit there for 12 months, it is criminal really, at my age. I was fuming. I told the hierarchy that I need to be playing football and to let me go, and I was almost gone before the manager [Erik ten Hag] came through the door. I have not spoken to him since.
"I worked hard on and off the pitch to keep improving day in, day out, and now I am looking forward to the season with Nottingham Forest."
Henderson ended up injuring a thigh in mid-January to keep him sidelined for the remainder of the campaign and Forest brought in Keylor Navas on loan from Paris Saint-Germain. But the Costa Rican veteran, 36, will play elsewhere in 2023/24, meaning Henderson will be the undisputed No1 under Cooper should he end up making a permanent switch to the City Ground.
