MANCHESTER UNITED face a moral dilemma over Dean Henderson if clubs agree to restart the Premier League.
They must decide whether to let the England Under-21 keeper stay at top-four rivals Sheffield United — and potentially help deny United a £60million-plus Champions League slot.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has a decision to make over Dean HendersonCredit: Reuters
The Manchester United loanee has impressed on loan at Sheffield United this seasonCredit: Rex Features
Prem chiefs discussed the loan situations of their players at Friday’s bumper meeting.
Whilst EFL clubs are understood to be in favour of extending loans if the player and their temporary side agree, the top flight demand the parent club must also be in favour of an extension.
Henderson is among eight players on loan to a Prem rival whose contracts expire on June 30.
While a vote next Monday is expected to see an agreement that on-loan players can stay to the end of the season, all owner clubs will have the right to veto the extensions.
When United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer agreed to let Henderson join the Blades last summer, he probably expected he would get back a keeper who had come on in leaps and bounds. United knew what a prospect they had in the 23-year-old Cumbrian, who has been at Old Trafford since 2011.
And Henderson has exceeded expectations, making a series of impressive displays which have propelled him into the full England reckoning.
But while gaffer Chris Wilder was rightly acclaimed for guiding his Blades to promotion last term, nobody could have envisaged that, with nine games to go, they would be just two points off fifth place — and a possible Champions League spot.
Henderson’s loan spell is due to expire on June 30, after which a handful of the remaining fixtures are scheduled to be played.
It would mean him returning to United, potentially dealing the South Yorkshire side a bitter blow in the season’s delayed run-in.
To prevent teams being poleaxed at this late stage, the 20 Prem clubs are being recommended to agree a temporary revision of the loan and contract regulations. That would allow clubs to extend — if players agreed — the contracts that are due to expire at the end of June for the 33 days the Prem needs to finish the season on August 2.
And it would also mean those currently on loan would also be allowed to extend their stays.
Henderson, you would expect, will be keen to see out the remaining Blades games — even if he is banned from playing at Old Trafford when their rearranged fixture takes place.
The 20 clubs are expected to agree that for loan arrangements between sides to be extended, there must be THREE-PARTY ratification.
Players returning to their parent clubs would NOT be allowed to play for them.
Other players on loan between Premier League rivals include the Spurs full-backs Danny Rose and Kyle Walker-Peters, who are at Newcastle and Southampton respectively, and Liverpool’s Welsh midfielder Harry Wilson, who is loaned out to Bournemouth.
It is hard to see any reason why their extensions would not be agreed.
Tottenham boss Jose Mourinho may see a future for Walker-Peters but there is none for Rose in N17. Arsenal may think twice about wanting to keep Southampton’s Cedric, with Leicester having a similar decision on Wolves’ Ryan Bennett, as neither have played a second of top-flight football since their January arrivals.
It is an unexpected twist in a contentious tale, with many clubs still concerned about more than 70 players whose contracts are due to expire at the end of next month.
On Monday clubs will be recommended to agree the extension of those contracts until the end of the campaign.
But the players would NOT be forced to agree to sign and would have the right to refuse.
That would be a big question for the likes of Chelsea’s midfielder Willian and Spurs’ defender Jan Vertonghen.
They could line up lucrative deals elsewhere for next season, only to see them wrecked if they picked up injuries.
Other players soon to be out of contract include former England stars Adam Lallana and Aaron Lennon, City favourite David Silva, Nemanja Matic at United, Bournemouth winger Ryan Fraser and Watford keepers Ben Foster and Heurelho Gomes.
And fears a significant number of those players down tools are among the concerns of the clubs less than keen to restart the season.
Chelsea eyeing transfer bid for Man United goalkeeper Dean Henderson with Kepa’s future still uncertain
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
