Legendary former Manchester United goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel has revealed he had “never heard of” Senne Lammens prior to the Red Devils being linked with him, and has told the club who they should’ve signed instead.
United were told throughout the summer that their goalkeepers were not up to scratch. For a man who reached a Champions League final with Inter Milan, it was hard to tell Andre Onana had been close to that level.
As such, in the final days of the summer, he was replaced by Lammens and loaned out to Trabzonspor.
Pior to Lammens’ signing, though, there were links with Emiliano Martinez and Gianluigi Donnarumma. The former has won the World Cup and the latter the Champions League.
Schmeichel feels those are the ilk of players United should have signed, instead of 23-year-old Lammens, from Royal Antwerp.
“We should have signed Emi Martinez. In fact, we should have gone for Gianluigi Donnarumma when we had the chance,” he said.
“With Martinez, everything was lined up and that felt like really good news, because he’s exactly the kind of goalkeeper Manchester United should have.
“As for Lammens, I’ll be honest, I’d never heard of him until the link came up.
“I know his stats are excellent across the top ten European leagues. But that was with Antwerp in Belgium, in a team that finished fifth.
“Stats don’t show how you react after a mistake, or how you cope with the pressure of Manchester United. That pressure is unlike anywhere else in football.”
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Lammens has a fantastic save percentage, but has never played in a top-five league, has featured in the Champions League just once, and is yet to make his national team debut for Belgium.
He is still yet to play for United despite being in place for their last Premier League game – the 3-0 loss to Manchester City.
Indeed, Altay Bayindir was preferred between the sticks, despite rumours he could have been allowed to leave in the summer, and the goalkeeper having made mistakes during his time in the United net.
When Lammens does get his first crack is unclear, as most would have expected he’d have been in immediately after his signing.
In any case, Schmeichel was disappointed that he was the man signed, not a better option, and having one of the best players ever in your position, at the club you now play for, already on your back, is not a good start.
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