After much deliberation over the no 1 position at Old Trafford, Man Utd announced the signing of 23 year old Belgian shot-stopper Senne Lammens from Royal Antwerp on deadline day.
The young GK has signed a contract that will keep him at the club until June 2030. The deal is worth around £18.2m plus add-ons [Sky Sports].
United's new goalkeeper had this to say upon his arrival at the club:
“I am extremely proud to be joining Manchester United; it is a real dream come true. The past few years have been an amazing journey; it’s now ended in an incredible destination and hopefully the beginning of something special.
“You can feel the positive atmosphere that is being created here, and I know that I can make a real impact at the club in the coming years. I cannot wait to get to know my team-mates and begin working with Ruben and the coaching staff. This is the perfect place to keep developing, grow together with this exciting team and achieve my career objectives.”
Director of Football Jason Wilcox added that:
“Senne is an excellent young goalkeeper with great potential; we are delighted that he has chosen to join Manchester United after significant interest from a number of clubs.”
Lammens played 64 times for Antwerp before his move to Old Trafford. Before that, he was also a youth player at Club Brugge, one of the biggest clubs in Belgium, before making the switch in order to receive more game time. He's spent all his career (professional and youth level) in his home country.
The 23 year old has been playing football since 2014 and has been a first-team player for the last 5 years beginning whilst he was at Club NXT.
He stands at 1.93m tall which is a good height for a goalkeeper and as per some clips online, you can see that there is something about him, something that obviously caught the eyes of United resulting in this transfer.
Final Thoughts
Ngl, I know little and less of this player. I'm also going to be quite frank here and say that this deal doesn't excite in the slightest.
I know that this is harsh on the young man and it doesn't actually have to do with him specifically but more with the player profile and position.
Unless you're signing one of the top 'keepers in the game (Alisson, Donnarumma, Onana 👀), you're not really going to get excited by a new no 1. It's not really a position that gets you hard like an attacker or midfielder does.
On top of that, Lammens is young, his spent his entire career in Belgium (which doesn't have the strongest league with all due respect) and there isn't much out there in terms of what he's like as a player and what he will ultimately bring to this United team.
This is a transfer that you have to trust that the club have done their homework on and identified him as the perfect goalkeeper for the now and future.
I just find him to be too much of a risk.
Indeed, any signing is a risk regardless of player profile, position, age, experience and so on, but there are some that are even more so than others.
As I said, I don't think there's too many people out there that know much about this player. Will he be a success or flop? Is he actually what we need? What's his character and personality like? Is he strong mentally?
There's nothing.
He could turn out to be the next Iker Casillas which is what we're all hoping for but hoping is a word fill me with much confidence. You could even argue whether he would be a starter for United. As he is young, inexperienced and not PL-proven, I wouldn't be surprised if Amorim picked Bayindir for the next match against City. Dare I say he could even start Onana ahead of Lammens 😬.
To make your debut in a derby is a difficult thing and as we know, the pressures of being a United goalkeeper is next level.
Of course Lammens doesn't really have to do too much to be better than what we have although I think I would be better than what we have as all one needs to do is be able to use their hands. Do that, and you're instantly better than Onana and Bayindir.
But just because he's better than what we have doesn't mean that he is the correct choice. I find this player too much of a risk. I find that we will still look at the goalkeeper position with concern as we have someone unknown between the sticks.
I'm not going to go over the same things as I said here regarding who would be better suited for United between Lammens and Martinez but I really think that the Argentine was exactly what we needed, for now.
Experienced, PL-proven, commanding, has an aura and oppositions know what he's all about. On top of it all, Martinez can save penalties which would've come in handy last week. I also feel that the defense would've felt more confident with someone like him in goal compared to Lammens. They wouldn't really need to worry about Dibu.
With the Belgian on the other hand, our back line may need to help him out in certain instances. I won't say they necessarily need to hold his hand but they will have to keep an eye on him and make sure he is okay at the back.
United already have their deficiences in this area of the team. With a new, young GK oppositions will definitely target him to test whether he is an improvement or not.
Lammens also doesn't have the best of experience and quality around him. There are just a handful of players who are what I would deem experienced winners in that squad such as Matthijs De Ligt, Noussair Mazraoui, Lisandro Martinez and Casemiro. That's not many, is it?
People also talk about wanting Amorim to succeed. He mentions wanting to stay as manager for the next 20 years, whenever he isn't thinking about quitting 😅. Do young, inexperienced players give him the best chance of doing that?
I don't understand why we also go for young, inexperienced players knowing that we need players for the now. In order to have success for the future, I believe we need to have success now as well.
Did he need a new goalkeeper? Yes, absolutely YES. But was any goalkeeper needed? Not for me. I believe we needed someone like Martinez simply because he comes straight into the side and pretty much sorts that position out. With Lammens, he is the great unknown and as mentioned, I don't know whether he will actually be a starter right away.
This all sounds very negative. I understand that but it's just my honest assessment of this player and deal. The last thing we want is for another shaky goalkeeper who may need time to improve. Whether he or Amorim will get that time is another matter.
No pressure kid 😅.
Senne Lammens, please prove me wrong 🙏.
Welcome to Manchester United 🤝.
Man Utd sign new goalkeeper Senne Lammens from Royal Antwerp | Image via Manchester United official X (@ManUtd)