A report by the Manchester Evening News has shared the outrageous comment made to Nottingham Forest goalkeeper Dean Henderson by Erik ten Hag in January.
The Manchester United manager spoke to the on-loan Forest star before he landed Jack Butland. It’s claimed that the Red Devils actually considered bringing Henderson back to Old Trafford.
Ten Hag has revived the club’s fortunes. They lead Forest 3-0 going into tonight’s second leg of the Carabao Cup and he will fancy leading United to the trophy this season.
Henderson has been in good form for Forest during 2022/23. He is, however, nursing an injury right now and could be out for up to a month with a thigh problem.
Ten Hag’s man management is admirable. His feeling on Henderson being at Forest is nothing short of outrageous, however, with some Reds fans likely to take offence to the comment.
According to the MEN, the United gaffer spoke with Henderson before landing Butland. He wanted to gauge his reaction with regard to him returning to United for the second half of the season.
It was the first time the pair had spoken but Henderson stressed that he wanted to stay at Forest. Tan Hag had the audacity to suggest that he felt that fishing the ball out of the net so frequently was counter-productive.
Outrageous Ten Hag comment will annoy Forest fans
Relayed by the MEN, these comments are disrespectful. Forest have conceded fewer goals than only Bournemouth in the Premier League but Henderson’s form has been good.
After keeping a sixth clean sheet of the season against Leicester an intriguing stat emerged. It came to light that Henderson had more clean sheets than any other goalkeeper outside of those playing for top-four clubs.
Forest’s defence has struggled at times this season. That has led to Steve Cooper chopping and changing the players in front of Henderson which hasn’t helped the solidity of the team.
Fair enough, Forest have had some thrashings this season. But then so have United. Has Ten Hag conveniently forgotten that his team were thumped 4-0 at Brentford and shipped six – the same as Forest – at Manchester City?
Newly promoted clubs have to put up with some occasional arrogance from top clubs. Given his kind comments ahead of United’s game with Forest in December, however, better was expected from Ten Hag.
Fair play to Henderson. He has opted to see things through at Forest and as a result, perhaps he’d consider a permanent move to the City Ground if the team can avoid relegation.