Dean Henderson has been told by Manchester United to prepare for a month as the first choice goalkeeper due to David de Gea’s absence for personal reasons.
Henderson has been desperate for a consistent run in the side and had to settle for cup games both domestically and in Europe to seize his chance.
And according to the Manchester Evening News, he could have six matches across the next four weeks to prove his worth in the absence of De Gea from the line-up.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer refused to disclose the specific reasons behind De Gea being left out of the squad for Wednesday’s 0-0 draw against Crystal Palace.
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“It is a private matter. It’ll take the time it takes,” He told Sky Sports.
Henderson could therefore start a run of important matches for United and stake his claim for the No 1 spot on a full-time basis.
Solskjaer was pleased with what he saw on Wednesday, saying: “That’s a Man Utd goalkeeper, sometimes you have to keep concentrating. He’s growing in that position. I thank him for one point and not zero.”
Henderson made one outstanding one-on-one stop from Patrick van Aanholt and his manager added: “Dean is ready if he’s called upon, you saw that. He kept his concentration.
“I think maybe it would have been called offside [against Van Aanholt] but at the moment I thought that Dean saved us a point because it looked like that was a deciding moment and that was probably the biggest chance of the game, apart from Marcus in the first-half.”
Having kept a clean sheet in the stalemate with Palace, Henderson will look to back-up his solid display against Manchester City in the derby this Sunday.
Next Thursday, United welcome AC Milan in the first leg of their Europa League last-16 tie before facing West Ham the following Sunday evening.
The AC Milan return is then followed by an FA Cup quarter-final clash against Leicester before a Premier League game against Brighton just under a month from now.
Henderson has been given opportunities for United this season after he returned to the club following an impressive loan spell at Sheffield United last season.
He has played 13 times and featured in all the FA Cup and Europa League games but Sunday would be the first time he’s been given the nod for back-to-back Premier League fixtures.
De Gea’s role as the starter looked relatively assured until now and he picked up the man of the match award in a fan vote having made a crucial second half save from Hakim Ziyech against Chelsea before missing the Selhurst Park draw.
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