Back in the summer of 2021, Manchester United were preparing for a brave new dawn in the goalkeeping department.
Having impressed while deputising for David de Gea at the end of the 2020/21 season, off the back of an impressive season on loan with Premier League side Sheffield United the season before that, Dean Henderson was preparing to become United's new number one goalkeeper.
After returning from England's European Championship squad that summer, Henderson had said he had been promised the number one position heading into the 2021/22 campaign.
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However, he caught long-Covid and De Gea was afforded the opportunity to continue in goal. When Henderson returned he was demoted to second choice and failed to make a single Premier League appearance that season.
He lost his place in the England squad, too, before joining Nottingham Forest the following summer on a season-long loan deal. It was ahead of that season at the City Ground that Henderson hit out at United's treatment of him.
"The conversation I had, coming out of the Euro squad, was that you're coming back here to be the number one goalkeeper. I got Covid - unfortunately, no one followed through with anything they told me," Henderson told Sky Sports back in 2022.
"I turned so many good loans down last summer, and they wouldn't let me go. It was frustrating. To sit there and waste 12 months is criminal really, at my age. I was fuming."
After impressing in the East Midlands, Henderson left United on a permanent basis to join Crystal Palace in the summer of 2023. The 27-year-old has established himself as the Eagles' number one goalkeeper and he will return to United on Sunday afternoon with a point to prove.
Henderson has impressed in South London and is back in the England fold. Meanwhile, both Andre Onana and Altay Bayindir have had their fair share of critics in the United goal this season.
That uncertainty continues to fester and there is a chance United look at freshening up their goalkeeping options in the summer. Henderson will be keen to prove they made a mistake by alienating him when he makes his return to Old Trafford this afternoon.
