Summary Dean Henderson could be staying at Manchester United due to a lack of available options in the goalkeeper position. There were previous rumors of Henderson joining Nottingham Forest on loan, but his future plans may be taken out of his hands. Mark Goldbridge believes Henderson has no chance of surpassing Onana as the first-choice goalkeeper, but acknowledges his talent as a backup option.
Mark Goldbridge has been reacting to news that Dean Henderson could be set to stay at Manchester United to provide support for Andre Onana, despite previous rumours suggesting he could be set to leave Old Trafford.
Is Dean Henderson leaving Manchester United?
According to The Manchester Evening News, Henderson could now be set to stay at Manchester United following an injury to Tom Heaton that is expected to keep the veteran stopper out for a few weeks.
Henderson had been expected to join Nottingham Forest on a loan deal with an option-to-buy amid discussions between the Tricky Trees and Manchester United, yet his future plans could now be taken out of his hands due to a lack of available options between the sticks.
Kicker via transfer expert Fabrizio Romano has confirmed that Matej Kovar, who is another one of Erik Ten Hag's understudies at Old Trafford is expected to join Bayer Leverkusen, as he stated on Twitter X: "Bayer Leverkusen sign Matěj Kovář from Man United on permanent deal. Fee will be €9m, as per Kicker. First part of medical tests will take place today."
Last term, £100k-a-week earner Henderson made 20 appearances on loan at Nottingham Forest and managed to keep six clean sheets in total, as per Transfermarkt.
Last year, Manchester United goalkeeper Henderson famously blasted the Premier League giants after they were believed to have failed to follow through on their promise of allowing him to replace David De Gea as number one stopper at the club after the EURO 2020 Championships.
Cited via talkSPORT, the England international said some time after joining Nottingham Forest on loan: "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. It was frustrating because I turned down so many good loans last summer for that reason, and they would not let me go. To sit there and waste 12 months, it is criminal really, at my age, I was fuming."
Nottingham Forest have also moved to bring in USA international goalkeeper Matt Turner this window on a four-year contract and it remains to be seen if any knock-on effect will be had with regard to Henderson's potential return to the City Ground as the window drags on, as per BBC Sport.
United in Focus cite that Red Devils boss Ten Hag has signalled that Henderson will not be available to take part in Manchester United's Premier League opener with Wolverhampton Wanderers on Monday, with the Dutchman stating the following: “All the others (players struggling with injuries), like Henderson and Hojlund, are quite short but it will take a few weeks."
What has Mark Goldbridge said about Dean Henderson?
Speaking on The United Stand YouTube channel, Goldbridge thinks that there is 'no chance' Henderson would be able to upstage first-choice goalkeeper Onana if he is to be kept on at the club.
Goldbridge said: "There's a very big chance that Dean Henderson will have to stay and be the understudy and he has got no chance of being the goalkeeper ahead of Onana unless Onana gets injured and then if Onana comes back, he'll be out anyway. I don't really care if Dean Henderson stays as a backup goalkeeper, because he's a good goalkeeper and as a backup, that'd be absolutely fine, but it's 100% not what he wants to happen and also, it's another player really we needed to sell to bring some money in.
"It's bad news in that sense, it's horrific news for the player, but apparently Tom Heaton's got a bit of an injury so Dean Henderson may well end up staying now."
Henderson may well have to stay put for now and undoubtedly is a more than able deputy for Onana when necessary; however, you can't help but feel that his own career trajectory may suffer if he isn't gaining regular first-team involvement at Manchester United.
