Senne Lammens signed on the dotted line for Manchester United on transfer deadline day, but his arrival has only heaped more scrutiny on the goalkeeping position
Only Manchester United could close what had been a successful transfer window with a signing that poses more questions than answers.
Having recruited proven Premier League attackers in Matheus Cunha and Bryan Mbeumo, and a promising young striker in Benjamin Sesko, United could consider the window a triumph, particularly as they also managed to offload most of Ruben Amorim’s exiled ‘bomb squad’.
But the £18.2million deadline day signing of goalkeeper Senne Lammens from Royal Antwerp has served to add to United’s problems between the posts, rather than providing a solution to them.
Having chosen to sign 23-year-old Lammens, rather than 33-year-old World Cup winner Emi Martinez from Aston Villa, United have added another keeper without having an established No.1.
United take on local rivals Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium a week on Sunday in the first derby of the new season, with uncertainty over who will start in goal for Amorim’s side.
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The United boss now has four goalkeepers in Lammens, Andre Onana, Altay Bayindir and Tom Heaton, one of whom must leave, on loan or permanently, to restore balance to a squad that has no European football this season or EFL fixtures, following the humiliating exit to League Two Grimsby.
Sources close to Onana have revealed the Cameroon international, United’s No.1 for the past two seasons, will stay and fight to reclaim that status, Bayindir is also understood to want to remain, while Heaton only signed a contract extension this summer.
Throwing Lammens into the heat of a Manchester derby for his Premier League debut is a risky move, one sources close to Amorim say the United head coach is unlikely to be willing to make.
If Amorim was to start Lammens at City and the young keeper makes a mistake, Amorim would be criticised for not having given him time to settle and adapt to his new environment.
That leaves Onana and Bayindir, both of whom have made high-profile errors already this season, but who will know what to expect at City, in a game neither Manchester side can afford to lose, after such poor starts to the new campaign.
Against that backdrop, Amorim is damned if he does select Lammens and that decision backfires, and damned if he doesn’t, if whoever gets the nod from error-prone duo Onana and Bayindir gets the call and drops another clanger.
Had United pushed ahead with a move for Martinez, even though he would have cost twice as much as Lammens, is a decade older and was demanding wages of £200,000-a-week, at least there would have been no doubt over the identity of Amorim’s No.1, where now there is only more confusion.
According to United sources, Lammens was not identified and ultimately signed with the expectation that he would go straight into the starting line-up. But the vulnerability of Onana and Bayindir means Amorim may decide to cut his losses and throw him straight into the team, with all the risks that brings.
The major strength Lammens brings is his shot-stopping ability. No keeper across Europe’s top 10 leagues has saved more penalties – five from seven faced – than the Belgium Under-21 star since the start of last season.
Lammens is also arguably stronger in the air than Onana and Bayindir, and more comfortable in congested areas, when teams try to target the opposition goalkeeper, blocking him from trying to come for the ball. Lammens stopped 44 crosses last season, more than any other keeper in Belgium, underlining his confidence in coming out for the ball.
There would appear to be many long-term positives from United’s acquisition of 6ft 4in Lammens, but his arrival will not provide an immediate solution to the problems Amorim faces. Establishing and sticking with a recognised No.1 keeper will be the first step towards doing that.
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