Man Utd transfer: Major summer signing branded ‘panic buy’ by ‘desperate’ Red Devils

Man Utd have been told by Ben Foster that they made a “panic buy” on the deadline day when they brought in Senne Lammens from Royal Antwerp.

The Red Devils strengthened their attack significantly in the summer window with Man Utd spending around £200m on Matheus Cunha, Benjamin Sesko and Bryan Mbeumo.

Many Man Utd supporters were disappointed that they didn’t manage to bring in a new defensive midfielder after being linked to Brighton’s Carlos Baleba earlier in the transfer window.

But they did beef up their options in net with Lammens joining from Belgian side Royal Antwerp in a deal worth £18.2m after Man Utd ended their interest in Aston Villa goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez.

There were rumours on deadline day that Man Utd were ‘leaning towards’ signing Martinez over Lammens but in the end it was the 23-year-old Belgian who joined over the more experienced Argentinian.

But former Man Utd goalkeeper Foster reckons the Red Devils could have made a mistake by signing Lammens as the deal stinks of desperation on their part.

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Foster said on his Fozcast podcast: “Being a goalkeeper for United is the hardest goalkeeping position to play in world football. You need someone with broad shoulders.

“I’ve watched a lot of videos of him [Lammens] on YouTube…and he looks on the eye test like he’s a competent goalkeeper. I’m yet to see what he’s like with the ball at his feet though and I think he’s a panic buy.

“United have probably always got some sort of list of goalkeepers that they look at and they keep tabs on.

“There will be scouts all over the world…but I don’t think they’ve done an in-depth analysis. A deadline day goalkeeper signing tells me that your club is desperate.”

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ESPN journalist Mark Ogden also voiced his concerns over the Lammens signing and reckons Man Utd “could live to regret” not signing Martinez.

Ogden told ESPN: “They were playing a strange game with the goalkeepers. It looked like Emi Martinez was on his way to Man United, but they preferred Lammens.

“I’m kind of surprised by that because, for me, Martinez is what they need right now. They need someone with a strength of character, personality, and world-class ability to sort out the defence and add confidence.

“They believe that Lammens is the better bet, and that the cost of getting Martinez on a short-term loan was too high in terms of wages, so they went with Lammens. I think they could live to regret that.”