Manchester United have a long history of notoriously bad transfer dealings since the end of the Sir Alex Ferguson era.

Paul Pogba is the prime example; the Frenchman is United’s most expensive signing. The club released the midfielder in 2012, re-signed him for £89 million in 2016, and then released him once again.

It has become a recurring theme at Old Trafford and one of the driving factors to the club’s lack of sustained success over the past decade.

Click to subscribe to the podcast

Rasmus Hojlund and Jadon Sancho, who signed for a combined £145m, are two of the most expensive failures and are currently out on loan at Napoli and Aston Villa, respectively.

Rasmus Hojlund scores after scoring the first of his two goals for Napoli in the Champions LeaguePhoto by Francesco Pecoraro/Getty Images

Now, a player whom Erik Ten Hag allowed to leave the club for £20m in 2023 could have been the ideal solution to one of their long-term problems.

Manchester United should not have sold Dean Henderson

Former shot-stopper Dean Henderson is establishing himself as one of the best in the Premier League. According to Statman Dave, he has prevented 2.5 goals this season, more than any other goalkeeper.

The 28-year-old signed for Crystal Palace after it became apparent he would not replace long-standing number one David de Gea, who departed at the end of his contract after 12 years.

Instead, United spent £47m to acquire Andre Onana, who is now on loan at Trabzonspor after he helped Inter Milan reach the Champions League final, and his spell between the sticks was nothing short of disastrous.

View Tweet

Although Ruben Amorim made the wise choice to move away from the Senegalese international, Altay Bayindir struggled to make an impact at the start of the season – he also arrived in 2023 for £4m to replace Henderson.

Man United have been woeful defensively under Amorim, conceding 54 goals last season on the way to a record-low 15th-place finish and already conceding 11 goals in seven matches this term.

£18m acquisition Senne Lammens arrived on deadline day, and to the Belgian’s credit, he kept a clean sheet on his United debut during the 2-0 win against Sunderland last time out.

But with Henderson keeping six clean sheets across his last 11 outings and costing less than a third of the players sought to replace him, his departure will join the long line of transfer failures at Old Trafford.

What did Ruben Amorim say after Senne Lammens’ debut?

While the Red Devils could have saved nearly £70m had they instead opted to trust Henderson to be the number one in 2023, Amorim may have finally found his man.

A lot of talk ensued after United decided to sign Lammens over the Premier League-proven Emi Martinez, who had all but confirmed his desire to make the switch to Manchester.

However, the 23-year-old couldn’t have had a better debut in English football, and Amorim revealed in his post-match press conference that he is encouraged by the early signs.

“When Senne arrived here, first of all, Altay was playing, and then he arrives and you can feel it, that he needs to adapt to a new country, new training, the pressure that you guys put on the goalkeepers are massive.

“So was like a little preparation for the guy to be ready to start his first game, but now it’s just one game and he needs to work because he needs to be prepared that in our club, uh, things are really hard. Uh, but he did well. Um, and again, he was comfortable during the game, and that is a very good sign.”