Topics: Football, Nottingham Forest, Manchester United, Dean Henderson, Carabao Cup
Dean Henderson’s comments about Manchester United may come back to haunt him before Nottingham Forest’s Carabao Cup semi-final against the Old Trafford club.
The on-loan Forest keeper was the hero as Steve Cooper’s side beat Wolverhampton Wanderers 4-3 on penalties in the Carabao Cup quarter-final, with the game having ended 1-1 after 90 minutes.
Henderson saved two spot-kicks from Ruben Neves and Joe Hodge to propel Forest into the last four, where they will face United.
However, Henderson can only play against his parent club if he is granted consent by United - something which seems unlikely after his acrimonious departure from Old Trafford.
EFL rules state Henderson can still play both legs of the Carabao Cup last four, provided he is granted consent by United.
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However, it appears unlikely United will permit him to face them later this month after Henderson was scathing of his treatment at Old Trafford.
The shot-stopper claimed United had promised him that he would be their No.1, only for him to play second fiddle to David De Gea for the entire 2021/22 season.
Speaking to TalkSPORT in August the player hit out at the treatment he received at Old Trafford, before joining Forest on a season-long loan.
Henderson said: “To be quite 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 at the other end of it now.
“I’m so excited to be here and ready to go.
“The conversation I had coming out of that Euro’s squad was, ‘You’re coming back here to be the No.1’. I got Covid, came back, I should have still been the No.1 but unfortunately, no one followed through with anything they told me.
“It was frustrating as well because I turned so many good loans down last summer for that reason and they wouldn’t let me go.
“It’s frustrating to sit there and waste 12 months. It’s criminal really at my age. I was fuming but I worked hard on the training pitch to keep improving day in and day out.
“I’m really excited to be here and I’m looking forward to the season with Forest.”
The keeper added that he was so eager to leave the Old Trafford club and play, he tried to finalise his loan move before new boss Erik ten Hag had settled into the job at United.
Henderson added: “I didn’t want [ten Hag] to come in and be able to see me in training because I knew he would probably want to keep me. I tried to do [the loan] all before I left for pre-season. I told the hierarchy I need to go and play football. I don’t want to be here playing second fiddle.
“That’s how it panned out so I was almost gone before the manager came in the door and I haven’t spoken to him since.”
