Manchester United had a problem between the sticks for too many seasons prior to the signing of Senne Lemmens from Royal Antwerp during the summer transfer window.
Andre Onana was signed from Inter for a fee of £43.5m in the summer of 2023, after helping the Italian side to reach the Champions League final, with the hope that he would be the answer to their problems.
Unfortunately, like the one in the clip above, his time at Old Trafford was littered with mistakes. He made two errors that led to shots and four errors that led to goals in his two Premier League seasons, per Sofascore.
Onana also made two errors that directly led to goals for the opposition in 13 appearances in the Europa League during the 2024/25 campaign, per Sofascore, which shows that he slipped up far too many times.
His short-term replacement, Altay Bayindir, did not fare much better. The Turkey international made two errors that led to goals for the opposition in ten appearances in the Premier League, with one in six games this season and one in four outings last term, per Sofascore.
Altay and Onana’s dismal form between the sticks convinced Ruben Amorim and INEOS to sign Lammens in the summer, and he has hit the ground running at Old Trafford.
Manchester United have already hit the jackpot with Senne Lammens
Statistics are great and can be brilliant when used correctly, as we will try to do later in this piece, but the Belgian shot-stopper provides United with something intangible: calmness.
The team looks more settled at the back and confident in their goalkeeper with situations in and around the box, because of the calmness and confidence that Lammens brings to the pitch.
Nervousness and indecision breed mistakes, as shown by Onana and Altay’s performances for United, but the summer signing looks like he will not be bringing either of those things to his performances.
Lammens, as illustrated in the post above, enjoyed a terrific debut against Sunderland in the Premier League last month, keeping a clean sheet and preventing 0.94 xG.
He has now made three appearances for United in the top-flight, winning all three, and has quickly established himself as one of the best shot-stoppers in the entire division.
Guglielmo Vicario (Spurs)
3.01
7
Robin Roefs (Sunderland)
2.94
7
Dean Henderson (Crystal Palace)
2.72
9
Nick Pope (Newcastle)
2.29
8
Senne Lammens (Man Utd)
1.97
3
As you can see in the table above, only four goalkeepers in the league have prevented more xG/goals than Lammens has, despite the fact that the Belgian star has only played three times.
His performances in the Pro League for Royal Antwerp in the 2024/25 campaign suggest that he has the potential to go and become the best shot-stopper in the Premier League, if he can hit his peak at Old Trafford.
Senne Lammens (Pro League)
+15.57
Jordan Pickford (Premier League)
+6.15
Matz Sels (Premier League)
+4.55
Mark Travers (Premier League)
+4.48
Ederson (Premier League)
+4.46
Dean Henderson (Premier League)
+3.14
This suggests that United have one of the best goalkeepers in the world in the making, given that he has the potential to be the best shot-stopper in, arguably, the best league in the world.
However, even the best goalkeepers still need a reliable defence in front of them to help rack up clean sheets to improve their reputation in the wider footballing community.
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That is why Manchester United need to move on from and upgrade on versatile defender Diogo Dalot in order to help Lammens become known as one of the best goalkeepers on the planet.
Why Man Utd need to move on from Diogo Dalot
We mentioned earlier that nervousness and indecision breed mistakes. So far this season, the Portugal international has seemed full of nerves and indecision, which has led to mistakes.
Dalot, per Sofascore, has made two errors that have led to shots or goals for the opposition across six starts in the Premier League, which shows that he is putting his team under pressure with needless mistakes.
In the recent 2-1 win over Liverpool at Anfield, The Sun’s Samuel Luckhurst claimed that Dalot is “their weakest player”, whilst content creator Mark Goldbridge described his performance as “awful”.
It was not a direct error that led to a shot or goal from Dalot, as shown in the clip above, but he was stationed in the centre of the box and failed to position himself to cut out the ball across that Cody Gakpo scored from.
On top of his mistakes in the Premier League this season, the former AC Milan loanee’s defensive numbers have gone down across the board in comparison to the 2024/25 campaign.
Appearances
33
7
Assists
3
1
Tackles per game
2.1
1.6
Interceptions per game
1.1
0.6
Ground duels won per game
3.2
2.3
Aerial duels won per game
1.2
0.6
As you can see in the table above, Dalot’s performances have declined this season, as he is making fewer tackles and interceptions and winning fewer duels on the ground and in the air.
This suggests that he has become a liability defensively for the Red Devils, particularly when you take his two direct errors into account, which is why Luckhurst calling him “their weakest player” may have been accurate.
United should, therefore, be looking to find an upgrade on the defender, who can play on the left or the right at full-back, because his mistakes may cost them moving forward.
Replacing him with a more reliable defender, who will not make as many costly mistakes, could help Lammens be known as one of the best goalkeepers in the world, because it would provide him with more protection and reliability ahead of him.
This could, therefore, lead to more clean sheets, more wins, and more people talking about how impressive United’s defence is with the talented shot-stopper behind them.