Senne Lammens: From Antwerp Unknown to Manchester United Anchor
Edwin van der Sar has seen enough goalkeepers to know the difference between a good one and a defining one. When he talks about Senne Lammens, there’s no hesitation.
The former Manchester United great has laid bare just how impressed he is with the Belgian, whose first season at Old Trafford has turned a quiet £18.1m deal into one of the stories of United’s campaign.
From Antwerp Unknown to Old Trafford Anchor
When United plucked Lammens from Royal Antwerp last September, the move barely rippled outside scouting circles. A 23-year-old with experience only in the Belgian Pro League, arriving at a club in flux, in a league that exposes goalkeepers with brutal speed. It looked like a gamble.
It hasn’t played out that way.
Installed as United’s new No 1 by Ruben Amorim after Andre Onana was sent out on loan in 2025, Lammens has not just survived the step up. He has owned it. Thirty appearances across all competitions in the 2025-26 season, six clean sheets, and something far harder to quantify: calm.
Van der Sar, speaking on Ben Foster’s Fozcast podcast, admitted he had only caught “a few games” of Lammens at Antwerp. The leap from there to Old Trafford, he stressed, cannot be overstated.
“To come to one of the best, the best league in the world, to a club that is in difficulty, United the last couple of years, it’s chop and change, managers, players, all kinds of things,” he said.
The Dutchman has lived that pressure. He recognises what it takes to walk into that dressing room and immediately carry responsibility. That’s why his verdict on Lammens carries extra weight.
“I think he steadied the ship when he came in, made the saves that he needed to make, was brave coming out, played with his feet also, a calm, composed figure.”
Steadied the ship. For a club that has lurched from one rebuild to the next, that is no small compliment.
A United Legend Sees Himself
Van der Sar’s own United story began in 2005, when Sir Alex Ferguson finally solved his long-running goalkeeping problem by prising him from Fulham. By then, the former Ajax and Juventus man was 34, already one of Europe’s most respected keepers.
He went on to win four Premier League titles, two League Cups and the Champions League with United before retiring in 2011. His standards at Old Trafford set the benchmark for every goalkeeper who followed.
So when he compares Lammens’ first season to his own, people listen.
“I think comparable, let’s say, to how I played, but I came there at 34,” Van der Sar said. “So, in that way, he’s doing tremendously well.”
Comparable. At 23.
That single word underlines just how far Lammens has come in a matter of months. Van der Sar built his United legacy over six seasons. Lammens is only at the start, yet already being spoken about in the same breath by the man whose gloves he is effectively trying to fill.
Composure Amid Chaos
Context matters. United have not been a settled, well-oiled machine in recent years. Managers have changed, squads have been overhauled, expectations have remained suffocatingly high. It is a hostile environment for any new signing, never mind a goalkeeper making his first steps in the Premier League.
Lammens has cut through that noise.
He has been brave off his line, sharp in his decision-making, and assured with the ball at his feet. The numbers – 30 games, six clean sheets – tell part of the story. The rest is written in the way he has calmed a back line that had grown used to turbulence.
Supporters have noticed. On fan platform TalkingPoints, Lammens has already been voted Signing of the Season. For a relatively low-profile arrival from Belgium, in a squad that often changes shape and personnel, that is a telling reflection of his impact.
The fee now looks like a bargain. The more pressing question is how much he might be worth if this is only the beginning.
