Senne Lammens: The unassuming signing who is turning United around

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·26 Januari 2026

Senne Lammens: The unassuming signing who is turning United around

Manchester United rose to fourth in the table with a stunning victory over Arsenal at the Emirates yesterday.

Summer upgrades

It was the second huge scalp in a week as Michael Carrick’s Red Devils have deservedly beaten the top two teams in the table in consecutive matches after defeating Manchester City the week before.

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Bryan Mbeumo and Matheus Cunha were both on the scoresheet and have been massive upgrades for United’s much more fluent and lethal attack this season. For context, United need four goals to beat last season’s goal count in the league and we have not even reached February yet.

Nonetheless, there has been a quieter but equally important upgrade in the team, Senne Lammens. The Belgian is rather unassuming and is rarely the protagonist in United’s games, something that comes as a rather pleasant surprise after two years of Andre Onana.

Not ideal circumstances

Lammens was famously not former manager Ruben Amorim’s choice as goalkeeper, as he wanted the more experienced Emilio Martinez.

What’s more, he was signed on deadline day, so was unable to have a proper pre-season and integration with the United first team squad. Finally, he did not get a chance to make his debut until the home game versus Sunderland in October.

Perfect antidote

Since then, he has started every match for the Red Devils and consolidated himself as the clear number one at the club.

After enduring the rollercoaster of Onana, United fans have been pleasantly surprised by their new goalkeeper. The Arsenal game yesterday is the perfect example of what Lammens brings.

He is not the best keeper in the world; he rarely makes incredible, jaw-dropping saves that defy gravity. United’s defence still clearly have issues as they have conceded 34 goals in 23 matches.

Nonetheless, he brings a calmness that Onana never could. It is his ability to do the simple things which sets a much stronger foundation for the team to get on with their business.

The 23-year-old takes no risks on the ball and frequently goes long to avoid complicating the issue with his backline.

That is not to say he is incapable of playing out from the back, but he rarely plays a dangerous ball. His passing accuracy of 39% yesterday highlights this.

Claiming crosses

Probably the biggest difference is how much more effective he is at claiming crosses into the box than either Onana or Altay Bayindir.

He made three high claims yesterday and on a couple of occasions took the sting out of Arsenal’s relentless corner assault. He is not perfect and perhaps could have done better for Arsenal’s second, but United fans feel 100% more assured when the Belgian comes out for a cross than his predecessors.

Dependable

One of Onana’s biggest faults at United was that he would be playing fine in a match and, out of nowhere, drop a clanger or fail to save a shot that a keeper of his standing should be stopping.

This made the defence constantly on edge, as they never knew what to expect from their goalkeeper.

Lammens is the complete opposite of this. He makes the stops you expect him to and with little fuss.

He was not called into action much yesterday but made three important saves: one reflex stop from a header in the first half and one where he got down low to deny Bukayo Saka. The second one in particular was relevant as it was exactly the type of effort Onana would typically dive too late for and potentially concede.

The Belgian has also proven he can handle the big occasion. He has handled Anfield, Elland Road and the Emirates and been victorious against Manchester City and Newcastle United, keeping clean sheets in both matches.

Final thoughts

Lammens is not the perfect keeper and at 23 years old, coming from the Belgian league, nobody would expect him to be, at least not yet.

Nonetheless, he has proven he is exactly what United need right now and, despite his unassuming demeanour, is very much the equal upgrade to the more explosive Cunha and Mbeumo in attack.