Manchester United made Dean Henderson a £40m goalkeeper but sold him for £20m

After Dean Henderson remained at Sheffield United for a second season-long loan, he immediately embarked on a pre-season beep test. He came first.

Henderson was not lording it, though. The Sheffield United manager, Chris Wilder, was absent from the pre pre-season and Henderson was on the blower to him immediately, imploring him to get the outfield players in ship-shape ahead of the club’s first Premier League campaign in 12 years.

That sounds like Henderson, a violet that does not shrink. It was in keeping with his bolshy personality that Henderson revelled in the post-match confrontation with Pep Guardiola at Wembley on Saturday. “You got your ten minutes,” he quipped, holding out both hands in case Guardiola hadn’t heard.

Joe Hart has a lot to answer for. Henderson, Jordan Pickford and Aaron Ramsdale, England’s three main goalkeepers, are all kindred spirits. They are vocal, expressive, impetuous and more cocky than confident.

Henderson, unlike Pickford and Ramsdale, now has a winner’s medal. His performance in the FA Cup final was career-defining. There was brilliance with the denials of Erling Haaland and Omar Marmoush but also that rashness when he carried the ball out for a corner and patted it away from outside his area. He fortuitously avoided expulsion.

Henderson travelled to Wembley with United for the League Cup final against Southampton in 2017. He was involved in the warm-up but back in his Paul Smith suit for the dressing room celebrations, clutching a bottle of beer. He had a taste for success, and got his hands on the trophy, but did not get a medal.

Nick Cox, the head of the Manchester United academy, was quick to congratulate Henderson at the weekend. “Well played Deano. Once a red always a red,” he