Comparing Senne Lammens after five Man Utd games to Andre Onana, David de Gea from past five seasons | OneFootball

Senne Lammens is starting to be credited as a key figure in Manchester United’s recent turnaround, as Ruben Amorim’s side remain unbeaten since the new goalkeeper came into the team.

When Man Utd bought Lammens from Royal Antwerp in the summer, it was a calculated gamble to reinforce their goalkeeping department. A replacement for Andre Onana was necessary, but they could have gone for a more familiar face.

Instead, they put their faith in Lammens as a long-term prospect. And in the short term, he seems to be something of a lucky charm at the moment.

Now having reached the tally of five Premier League appearances, Lammens is yet to be on the losing side when representing United. But what do the numbers show about his impact compared to his predecessors?

Here, we’ve taken a closer look at the stats from the first five league appearances per season by United’s main goalkeeper.

Senne Lammens (2025-26)

Lammens kept a clean sheet on his debut against Sunderland, but hasn’t done so since. Nevertheless, he has made twice as many saves as the number of goals he has conceded.

On his second appearance, Liverpool breached Lammens’ net once. In each of his three games since, United have conceded twice apiece.

But in the most recent game against Tottenham Hotspur, Lammens made two instinctive saves that helped United go on to claim a point.

If he can keep his unbeaten run going, it will do his chances of convincing United to stick with him as their first-choice for years to come no harm.

Andre Onana (2024-25)

Last season, Onana was one of the main figures of blame for United finishing in the bottom half of the Premier League.

His second season with United began with a clean sheet against Fulham, but he conceded five goals over their next two games: losses against Brighton and Liverpool.

Onana rounded out his first five league appearances of 2024-25 with further clean sheets against Southampton and Crystal Palace, but was only averaging two saves per game by the end of that run.

By the end of the season, the rate of goals he was conceding made his status as United’s main goalkeeper untenable and he was shipped out to Trabzonspor on loan.

Andre Onana (2023-24)

Onana was kept busy in the opening weeks of his United career, having to make 20 saves. Along the way, the only clean sheet he was able to keep was against Wolves on his Premier League debut.

As stated, his saving ratio became unsustainable in the long run.

David de Gea (2022-23)

It was the end of an era for United in the 2022-23 season as long-serving keeper De Gea completed his final campaign with the club, under a degree of scrutiny due to a perceived decline in level.

From his first five league appearances of 2022-23, De Gea conceded as many goals as Lammens has from his own first five league appearances three years later: seven.

In comparison to Lammens, De Gea made one more save. Ultimately, though, he would be released at the end of his contract – despite winning the Premier League Golden Glove – and surprisingly not picked up by another club until signing for Fiorentina a year later.

David de Gea (2021-22)

De Gea’s penultimate season with United began with the Spaniard proving hard to beat. Although he only kept one clean sheet, he only conceded one goal in each of his other first five league appearances.

De Gea concluded the campaign as an ever-present in the Premier League.

David de Gea (2020-21)

In contrast, the season before started on the wrong foot for De Gea, whose third league appearance of the season saw him concede six goals to Tottenham.

He later kept a clean sheet on his fifth appearance, against Chelsea, but was very much in mixed form at the time, having made fewer saves than Lammens has now.

How many goals have Man Utd keepers conceded in their first five league appearances?

A look back at the goals conceded by the last 10 Man Utd goalkeepers to have made five or more Premier League appearances may paint as much of a picture on the club’s relative downfall as much as anything about Lammens.

Stretching back to Edwin van der Sar, here’s a quick glance at how many goals each of those keepers have let in from their first five league appearances for United (some spanning across multiple seasons).