Dean Henderson was the hero for Nottingham Forest as they progressed to the last four of the EFL Cup but he will be denied a semi-final appearance.
Henderson is on a season-long loan deal at the Midlands club from Manchester United, whom Forest have been paired with in the final four. The 25-year-old has previously spoken out against his treatment by his parent club.
Henderson spent last year sat kicking his heels on the bench as David De Gea remained United’s first choice shot-stopper under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and then interim coach Ralf Rangnick. The shot-stopper exited on loan this season following the arrival of Erik ten Hag.
The Old Trafford youth-team graduate had been expected to take over as United's first choice goalkeeper for last season after David de Gea had endured a difficult campaign, but things did not go as planned for Henderson – who initially suffered Covid-19 as De Gea recovered form.
The shot-stopper made just three senior appearances in total throughout his and the club’s ill-fated campaign, with none of those outings coming in the Premier League. He has subsequently established himself as Forest’s undisputed number one this term.
Henderson would have been hopeful of exacting revenge on United as his clubs were paired together in the EFL Cup final four, but he will be denied the opportunity of appearing in either leg of the semi-final due to a stipulation in his loan deal that he cannot be selected against his parent club.
Have Your Say! Should Man Utd consider replacing De Gea with Henderson next season in their strongest XI? Tell us what you think here.
Forest boss Steve Cooper admitted after his side’s quarter-final victory over Wolves that it would come as a blow for his side: "Only just thought of that," he confessed after the game at the City ground when informed of Henderson’s upcoming absence. "Got me on the spot there. It is unfortunate. That has put a bit of a dampener on it."
It is not unusual for club’s loaning out players to include this clause in the contract – precisely so that they cannot be potentially embarrassed or damaged by players under their employment, but it will doubtless come as frustrating for Forest fans.
Cooper’s side fell to a three-goal defeat at Old Trafford in the Premier League last month with Wales international goalkeeper Wayne Hennessy standing in for the ruled-out Henderson. Yet it will be the goalkeeper himself who is most frustrated at the situation as he is desperate to show United what he is capable of.
Speaking back in August to talkSport, Henderson lamented: "I didn't want the manager (Ten Hag) to come in and be able to see me in training. I knew he'd probably want to keep me, so I tried to do it all before I left for the season. I told all the hierarchy I need to go and play football, I don't want to be here playing second fiddle.
"It was all planned out. I was almost gone before the manager came through the door and I haven't spoken to him since. To be 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 the other end of it. I'm so excited to be here and ready to go."
Henderson went on to detail what he saw as broken promises from United: "The conversation I had coming out of that Euros squad was ' you're coming back here to be the number one goalkeeper'. I got Covid, come back, I should have still been the number one, but unfortunately, no-one followed through with anything they told me.
"It was frustrating because I turned down so many good loans last summer for that reason and they wouldn't let me go. So, it was frustrating. To sit there and waste 12 months, it's criminal really at my age.
"I was fuming. But I worked hard off the pitch and on the training pitch to keep improving day in, day out. So I'm really excited to be here. I'm looking forward to the season with Forest."
