Manchester United have finally found the solution to their goalkeeper issue. Over the last few years, dating back to the end of David de Gea’s final couple of seasons, there were too many errors made by the Red Devils’ shot stoppers.
Andre Onana was signed by Erik ten Hag as De Gea’s replacement, but he constantly struggled, and his long-term number two, Altay Bayndir, also has his frailties.
Onana made five errors leading to a goal in the Premier League and Europa League last term, as per Sofascore, while Bayindir has made two from just ten top-flight outings in total for United.
Thus, the Old Trafford side signed Senne Lammens this summer, who has since gone on to start two games. His debut against Sunderland showed great promise, and he performed well away to Liverpool.
There have been some real standout moments from Lammens so far in just two games.
Lammens’ key moments for United so far
It has been a superb start for Lammens since breaking into the first team at Old Trafford. He kept a clean sheet on debut and managed to keep the likes of Alexander Isak at bay in the hostile atmosphere that is Anfield.
On his debut, he made some big saves. He pushed a well-struck effort from Granit Xhaka wide and did well to narrow the angle on Chemsdine Talbi’s effort, which he promptly saved.
Teammate Mason Mount said he was “solid” on his first start.
His second appearance saw him pull off a few more great saves, but he did something else integral to help United secure a famous Anfield victory. His execution of Ruben Amorim’s game plan was spot on.
Against the Reds, Amorim asked his new goalkeeper to go long when he had the ball. United aimed to win second balls and get at Liverpool, which worked perfectly for Bryan Mbeumo’s opener.
Lammens was pinpoint with his long passing, pulling the Liverpool centre-backs apart and helping United nail a plan which won them the game.
The Belgian has made a huge impression at Old Trafford already. Competition for places could soon be great, with one on-loan United star a player who could really challenge him.
Man Utd loan star can rival Lammens
There are a fair few goalkeepers on United’s books at the moment. Lammens has cemented himself as the number one under Amorim, Bayndir is his backup, and Tom Heaton is the third choice. Onana will return next season, too, as he is only on loan at Trabzonspor.
However, someone who could really force his way into the reckoning is Radek Vitek. The 21-year-old Czech Republic star is currently on loan at Bristol City in the Championship, where he is shining.
He’s played 11 games so far for the Robins and has an impressive record already. He’s only conceded 11 goals in that time, keeping four clean sheets and winning their player of the month award for August.
The United academy star has pulled off some excellent saves, too. This one against Hull City was arguably his best, diving low to his right with cat-like reflexes and tipping it away from goal.
It was a superb piece of athleticism.
The numbers from Vitek’s time in the West Country further highly Vitek’s talent. He has a save percentage of 75% so far in the Championship, and averages 4.3 completed long passes each game, too.
Saves
3
33
Save percentage
75%
75%
Passes completed
14.1
155
Long passes completed
4.3
47
Clean sheets
4
0.4
It will be fascinating to see how Vitek fits in at United. Red Devils correspondent for the Daily Mail, Nathan Salt, said he is “about to rocket” in 2025/26, and it is easy to see why.
It has been an impressive start from the Czech shot-stopper.
Lammens has made a fantastic start to life in Red, but he will have good competition in the next 12 months if these sorts of performances continue. Indeed, with the consistency Vitek is showing this term, there is easily a case to be made that he is even better than the Belgian.
Amorim might one day be in the unenviable position of having to pick between the two. Certainly, Vitek’s form this term will do his United career no harm.