Aston Villa make formal approach to sign Senne Lammens as United close in on Emiliano Martinez | OneFootball

Aston Villa are in formal talks with Royal Antwerp to sign Man United target Senne Lammens, according to Fabrizio Romano.

Goalkeeper merry-go-round

After a dreadful season between the sticks for Andre Onana, Manchester United made enquiries earlier in the transfer window to sign Aston Villa’s unsettled keeper, Emiliano “Dibu” Martinez on loan. The Villans rejected the approach.

United then turned their attention to Royal Antwerp keeper Senne Lammens, a highly-rated but unproven 23-year-old who they expected to be able to snap up for around £18 million.

However, Antwerp have been playing hard ball and a deal that looked set to be sealed has dragged on into the last 36 hours of the transfer window.

As all this has been going on, Onana put in another awful performance for United on Wednesday and reserve Altay Bayindir made mistakes against Arsenal and Burnley, adding further pressure on INEOS to land an upgrade.

Frustrated with Antwerp’s antics, United turned back to the World Cup winner and earlier today, transfer guru Fabrizio Romano reported that the Red Devils have agreed personal terms with him. Furthermore, Romano said United and Villa were in club-to-club talks over a deal in case the Lammens transfer could not be concluded.

Twist in the tail

Now a fresh twist has emerged, again via Romano. The guru states:

“Understand Aston Villa have made formal approach with Royal Antwerp for Senne Lammens!

“He’s the main option alongside Diogo Costa in case Dibu Martínez ends up leaving the club.

“Manchester United are in talks with Villa for Dibu… and #AVFC now think of Lammens.”

As far as mainstream reports have stated, United’s priority remains Lammens despite the “backup” approach for the 30 year old. But if Villa beat them to the chase for the Belgian, then they will presumably allow United to buy their second choice, Martinez.

If United win the race for Lammens, then presumably they will drop their interest in Martinez, who is very keen to play for them. It is also possible, as Jan-Aage Fjortoft claims, that they have in fact changed their minds and decided to make Dibu their first choice.

One thing is for sure: United are determined to get a keeper over the line before the transfer window closes, which would be 7pm tomorrow in the case of Martinez (as a domestic transfer) or midnight in the case of the younger keeper.

Featured image Octavio Passos via Getty Images

online polls

Follow us on Bluesky: @peoplesperson.bsky.social