‘To waste 12 months was CRIMINAL’ – Fuming Man Utd keeper Dean Henderson blasts club for breaking No 1 promise

DEAN HENDERSON fumed at “criminal” Manchester United for wasting a year of his career with false promises of the No 1 spot.

The England keeper, who joined Nottingham Forest on a season-long loan last month, revealed in an explosive rant he was furious with the Red Devils for their treatment of him after turning down offers.

Henderson, 25, says he was promised the No 1 role ahead of David de Gea by ex-United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer last summer — but played just THREE games. 

Hendo blasted: “I turned so many good loans down last summer for that reason  and they wouldn’t let me go.

“To  waste 12 months was criminal really, at my age. I was fuming. It was so frustrating.”

Henderson missed Euro 2020 last summer with a hip injury and then caught Covid to force him to miss the first three games of the season, leaving him on the bench as back-up to De Gea for most of the campaign.

And Henderson admitted he  had no interest in  talking to new United manager Erik ten Hag before joining Forest.

He said: “I didn’t really want the manager to   see me in training because I knew he’d probably want to keep me. 

“I told all the hierarchy: ‘I need to go and play football. I don’t want to be  playing second fiddle’.

“And it panned out so I was almost gone before the manager came in.”

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Henderson’s stinging attack was directed at both Solskjaer — who was sacked last November — and United.

He told talkSPORT: “The conversation I had, coming out of the Euros squad, was ‘you’re coming back to be  No 1 keeper’. 

“Unfortunately, no one followed through with anything they told me.”