Dean Henderson was forced off with injury inside just 20 minutes of his Crystal Palace debut this evening.
What made the incident even more heartbreaking for Henderson was that it came away to the club that he left over the summer, Manchester United.
The goalkeeper was vocal about not settling for second choice this season, and wanted to leave Old Trafford to play regular first-team football.
Henderson had been left on the bench in his first three matches as a Palace player though, after also not featuring for United at any point during August or in pre-season.
However, when given his chance at, of all places, Old Trafford, Henderson saw next to none of the ball before being replaced by Sam Johnstone.
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Johnstone has been Roy Hodgson's preferred choice in the Palace goal even since Henderson joined for £15m late in the summer window.
The 26-year-old appeared to tweak something when clearing the ball, and the decision was eventually made, after some lengthy discussion, to take Henderson off.
Henderson's loan spell at Nottingham Forest was cut short last season due to injury too, as he played no part from mid-January onwards.
Fears over his injury record left Forest reluctant to meet Man United's demands, and a deal never materialised.
Instead, Forest opted to sign Matt Turner from Arsenal and Odysseas Vlachodimos from Benfica.
With no prognosis yet on the length of time that Henderson could be missing for, it will deal his chances of getting back into the England setup another huge blow ahead of next summer's European Championships.
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Instead, it is currently Johnstone, his direct rival at Palace, who is third-choice in Gareth Southgate's England squad, behind Jordan Pickford and Aaron Ramsdale.
Despite coming on and conceding three in a lacklustre 3-0 defeat at Old Trafford, Johnstone is set to return from the start when Palace face United again in the league on Saturday.
Hodgson made seven changes from the side that drew with Fulham at the weekend in the Premier League.
After a heavy defeat though, it appears unlikely that Hodgson will stick with many of the fringe players that he gave opportunities to on Tuesday evening.
Andrew Delaney
