Allardyce: Man Utd sold a player who’s now the ‘best’ in the PL, they’d have saved £62m if they stuck with him

Sam Allardyce has poured praise on Crystal Palace’s Dean Henderson amid his stellar form over the last 12 months.Indeed, the shot-stopper has been one of a handful of vital cogs at the heart of Oliver Glasner’s resurgent Palace project since he took the reins in February 2024.Already this season, Henderson has recorded six clean sheets in the opening 12 Premier League matches. He’s second only to Arsenal’s David Raya (seven) in the race for the Golden Glove award.Allardyce can’t speak highly enough of Henderson(Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images)Allardyce said of Henderson on the No Tippy Tappy Football podcast (released on Tuesday): “But this lad, who I think is the best goalie, [because] he proved it all last year and this year. And he doesn’t have to do as much because they’re doing so well at the top end of the league now, and that’s Dean Henderson at Crystal Palace.“I’ve got to pick the right word. He’s so confident in himself. I mean, he believes when somebody’s got a penalty, he’s going to save it.“You can see it, he’s bordering on a bit arrogant, but he’s so confident.”He returned some particularly eye-catching performances towards the back end of last season, when he kept three successive clean sheets from the quarter-finals of the FA Cup to the final, where Palace defeated Manchester City 1-0 to claim their first-ever major honour.Whenever Henderson puts in a notable display in such a high-stakes game, it always prompts conversations amongst the Manchester United faithful as to whether the club were right to let him go – especially with how sour his tenure ended. Appearances Clean sheets Goals conceded 29 13 25 *Henderson’s full record at United, as per TransfermarktHow Henderson’s United exit came to fruition(Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images)The England star, who’s earned four caps since his debut in 2020, joined Palace for an upfront fee of just £15 million, pulling the curtains on a 12-year association with United.He was adamant about parting ways with the Reds before he even properly got the chance to showcase his abilities to Erik ten Hag; Henderson initially joined Nottingham Forest on loan for the 2022/2023 term before sealing a permanent exit upon his return the subsequent summer.When reflecting on his departure, the 28-year-old expressed his grievances over his treatment, claiming he had been made promises by club chiefs that he would replace David de Gea as the No.1 ‘keeper.“It was frustrating because I turned down so many good loans last summer (after the 2021 Euros) for that reason (to be United’s No.1), and they would not let me go,” he told talkSPORT back in August 2022.“To sit there and waste 12 months, it is criminal really, at my age, I was fuming. I worked hard off the pitch and on the training pitch to keep improving, day in [and] day out, and now I am looking forward to the season with Nottingham Forest.“I didn’t really want the manager to come in and see me in training because I knew that he’d probably want to keep me, so I tried to do it all before I left for the season.“I told the hierarchy that I need to be playing football; I don’t want to be here and play second fiddle, it was planned out. I was almost gone before the manager [Erik ten Hag] came through the door. I have not spoken to him since.”United would go on to replace De Gea with Andre Onana (£43.8m), until his lacklustre showings led to him being offloaded to Turkey over the summer, and young Belgian Senne Lammens (£18.2m) was brought in.