“For Senne, the sky is the limit,” begins Amadou Onana, the Aston Villa midfielder and heartbeat of Belgium’s re-emerging national team.
Onana is speaking in the bowels of the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in the U.S. city of Atlanta, where the Belgians served up a reminder of their credentials for the looming World Cup by beating the United States 5-2 in a friendly on Saturday.
Though Onana was one of four Belgium players to score in the match, he reserved extra praise for Senne Lammens, the Manchester United goalkeeper whose career and profile have grown exponentially over the past year. This, we should remember, is only Lammens’ second full season as a first-choice player, and his previous one was spent with Royal Antwerp of the Belgian Pro League, where home games were played at their 21,000-capacity Bosuilstadion.
When United signed Lammens for an initial £18.2million ($24m) on deadline day last September, choosing him over a move for Villa’s 2022 World Cup-winning Argentina goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez, plenty wondered if the newcomer would have the quality and temperament to handle one of the most scrutinised positions in world football. As a basic barometer of what awaited him in Manchester, Lammens’ Instagram following rocketed from 10,000 in August to 1.2million now.
Almost eight months on, any questions have been firmly answered.
Lammens has the potential to be United’s best pound-for-pound signing since Bruno Fernandes more than six years ago and, still aged only 23, he has the potential to be both a present and long-term solution in the home goal at Old Trafford.
On Saturday in Atlanta, Lammens could afford a moment of quiet satisfaction after making only his second senior start for his country, having previously been in the line-up for a 7-0 win in a World Cup qualifier against Liechtenstein in November. He made one particularly outstanding reflex save against the Americans, spreading himself like a starfish and stretching out a glove at close range to deny Weston McKennie in the first half.
Lammens saves from McKennie (John Adams/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Afterwards, he spoke to The Athletic, where he spoke of making a “big step” in the national team.
While respectful to Belgium’s first-choice goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois, the Real Madrid star who missed the match through injury, Lammens also knew he had proved he is a capable deputy.
“I saw (Courtois) in the beginning of the week. He was there with our team. He knows we are both a bit the same character, in that we do not need the most praise or the most reassurance, but I think he believes in me as well,” he says. “He’s still, to be honest, the best goalkeeper in the world. So he’ll come back to that level. I wanted to be there for my team today and maybe in the future, when I’m needed, I showed today that you can count on me.”
For Lammens, the game with one of this World Cup’s three co-hosts, along with Canada and Mexico, produced an unexpected challenge, as the colours of the teams’ outfield jerseys brought a clash between the USMNT’s new home kit and Belgium’s recently-released away one, with neither team having a spare stock of alternatives to hand at the stadium.
“I’m going to be honest,” he said. “The beginning of the game was quite difficult because of the same jerseys. I asked the kit men during half-time and they said they didn’t decide it. Both countries wanted to play with their new kits. So that was the thing. It wasn’t the best, I think, from the stands. But also on the pitch, it was not the most easy thing. So I hope in the future it gets a little bit more different.”
As his nation tuned in across the Atlantic, Lammens sailed through another moment of close scrutiny without blemishes.
As Courtois turns 34 in May, Lammens, at over a decade younger, is likely his long-term replacement in the Belgium goal.
For Lammens himself, the preparation was, as usual, low-key. His parents and girlfriend watched from home, having sent good-luck messages before the game. “They know they don’t really have to say too many things. They trust me. That’s also the way I like it, that you don’t really bother me too much before a game,” Lammens says.
Lammens says he was given no guarantees he was going to be United’s No 1 (Ash Donelon/Manchester United via Getty Images)
As for his development at United, he praises the impact of Michael Carrick as interim head coach. United have won seven, drawn two and lost only one of their matches since Carrick replaced the sacked Ruben Amorim in January, with the Portuguese coach’s focus on his preferred system sometimes limiting performances.
Lammens praises his new boss for simplifying United’s game.
He says: “The first thing, from the first day, was his (Carrick) ability to make everything quite clear and (present) a direct message. He didn’t make it too difficult for us or too complicated.
“Sometimes, managers make a plan too complicated, and then some players don’t buy in and it’s difficult to get on the same level for everyone. But from the first game, it was quite clear what he wanted. He was not asking the most difficult things, but also he was able to let our players thrive in their qualities. At the back, not giving goals away is one of the most important things, and then our players in front can make a difference. That’s probably what has been working the best.”
Lammens points out that United have rarely conceded early or first in a game under Carrick — the only time the opposition have scored in the first 20 minutes was in the 2-1 home win against Crystal Palace on March 1 — and the goalkeeper says this has been a building block for confidence. He also says United’s increased consistency in the defensive line, switching from a back five with regular changes of personnel to a four with more regular selection, has made life easier.
“We don’t really give away a lot of goals in the beginning of the game, which is probably one of the most important things in the Premier League,” he says. “Michael has given us a lot of confidence and a lot of stability from the back.
“At the beginning of the season, there were a couple of players injured and a couple of defenders coming in and going out. It was difficult to get the rhythm. The last couple of games have been better as well. For example, with (centre-back) Harry Maguire in front of me, he is also a beast, so it’s always nice to have him there.”
When the Belgian was first signed, he competed with Altay Bayindir for a place in the United goal. But as the Turkey international toiled, Lammens was afforded a debut against Sunderland in early October. United fans, scarred by the uncertainty of Bayindir and previously Andre Onana, gave him a near-standing ovation when he caught the ball in that game. He is now undisputedly United’s No 1, but he did not receive a promise he would be upon arriving at the club.
“There was never something clear set about that,” Lammens says. “There was never a timeline or something. They just said, ‘Look, if you believe in yourself, you’re going to get a chance. If you let your quality show in training, the manager will put you in’. I also saw the path for me to be able to get my chance sooner or later.”
In the final days of the summer window, it appeared uncertain that Lammens would even end up at United, with speculation also about interest from Villa in the event that Martinez left the Birmingham club.
“From the outside, it was a lot of talk. But for me, it was always United, to be honest. It was quite clear for me. I just believed in myself. And I knew the chance was going to come and it was up to me to take it. I think I’ve been able to do that now,” he says. “Making the move to United was a big one, but in my head I was always confident and sure, long-term, that I was going to make the right call. It has gone really good, really fast. I can’t really say anything bad about the transition.”
For Premier League goalkeepers, this has been a challenging and at times bruising season, most notably due to the increased emphasis on set pieces.
Recent away wins at Arsenal and Everton saw United defend a combined 19 corners in total. Lammens is an imposing 6ft 4in (193cm) but, that day against Everton in particular, he needed to stand tall, with team-mate Kobbie Mainoo later comparing the job of trying to defend the home side’s dead-ball moves to a WWE Royal Rumble.
There was no hiding place for Lammens, who came for every ball with courage and conviction. Everton manager David Moyes said afterwards that their plan was that “the goalie wouldn’t do as well as he did”, calling him “b****y brilliant”.
Lammens told The Athletic: “This season in particular, they start blocking at set pieces and trying to gather around the goalkeeper and make it more and more difficult. It’s not the easiest, but I think I’ve dealt with it quite well.
“Sometimes when you see all those guys in front of you, you kind of get scared of it. But I also have to trust my team-mates to get me in the best possible position to push those players away. So I just focus on the ball and then try to make a right decision. I think I’ve been doing well at that.”
Lammens says he reads books and watches documentaries about greats from the sporting world.
The late NBA star Kobe Bryant is a particular inspiration, he has told former United and England goalkeeper Ben Foster’s podcast, zoning in on how to respond to setbacks and harnessing “mamba mentality… to be a killer on the pitch”. After training sessions, he sometimes plays golf or padel to get his mind away from football, and listens to the music of Italian composer Ludovico Einaudi.
Lammens’ own composed showings between the posts do not lend themselves necessarily to the most eye-catching statistics, but the overall picture is positive.
Most notably, he is top among Premier League goalkeepers for expected goals prevented (xGP) per 90 minutes, with a rate of 0.21 goals prevented per game.
His overall save percentage in the top flight is around 64 per cent, with David Raya, Gianluigi Donnarumma, Robin Roefs, Jordan Pickford and Martinez all at 69 per cent or higher. Yet he has caught the ball 24 times, which is eight occasions more than Alisson and 14 more than Pickford or Donnarumma, while his save percentage from shots faced outside the penalty area is 87.5 per cent, compared to Donnarumma’s 70.83 per cent and Raya’s 69.23.
Perhaps the most significant impact can be felt through the eye test, or the heartbeat test, as many United fans simply feel calm about their goalkeeping position again. That has not been the case for quite some time. Former United full-back turned leading TV pundit Gary Neville has compared Lammens’ cool disposition to that of his own Old Trafford team-mate Edwin van der Sar, while the Dutchman himself has praised Lammens for making “saves that are needed, rather than going looking for saves that are not necessary”.
Off the field, his Belgian colleagues certainly appear fond of Lammens.
“He is just such a good guy, very normal,” says a media officer from the Belgian federation.
“He has every possible attribute to be one of the best ’keepers of the future,” Amadou Onana tells The Athletic. “His future is very bright. I think it depends on him, really.
“His best quality is his calmness. He just inspires you as a player, because seeing him on the ball, how calm and quiet he is, composed, that helps the defence, helps the midfield, and helps the team. I’m very glad we have him. I’ve obviously been following his games at United. He’s doing brilliantly well, especially after he had people doubting him when he came in. I am very pleased for him.”
