Lammens explains style of play

New Manchester United signing Senne Lammens describes himself as an “all-round” goalkeeper, mainly inspired by Manuel Neuer and compatriot Thibaut Courtois.

The 23-year-old arrived at Carrington on transfer-deadline day from Royal Antwerp, and was described by director of football Jason Wilcox as “an excellent young goalkeeper with great potential.”

Lammens made 44 appearances in the 2024/25 campaign for Antwerp and became a much-discussed name in Belgian football, as he received his first national team call-up in March.

However, for United fans unfamiliar with the Belgian Pro League, Senne provided an insight into his style of play in our first sit-down interview at Carrington.

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“I’m quite all-round, I take pride in that,” he explained.

“Of course, you have working points that you can improve at everything.

“I like to play from the back also with the team, at my feet. I like to help the team with controlling the space behind the defence, helping my defenders. And, of course, if you want to be a top goalkeeper at this level, you have to be a good shot-stopper, so I think I’m an all-round [keeper].

“I can improve also and I’m already eager to start training and improving so that I can take the next step.

“I watched a lot of football growing up. My inspirations when I got older and became a goalkeeper were Manuel Neuer or Thibaut Courtois, the same nationality, so you look up to them a lot.”

Lammens made more saves (173) than any other goalkeeper in Europe’s top 10 leagues last season, a stat he said he couldn’t avoid seeing on social media.

“It’s a little bit of a combination,” he said.

“You have to have a team where you can show yourself. I think that was a perfect step for me to go to Antwerp and to start playing there. It’s a high level but you also get to show yourself, you have a lot of work in goal.

“Last season was a little bit of everything coming together, every single piece falling together, so if you see the stats, it’s what I’ve worked for my entire life, so it’s really nice last season that I could show myself to the outside world.”

One attribute Lammens didn’t mention at first was his goalscoring ability. Back in 2019, he made global headlines when he headed home a late equaliser for Club Brugge’s Under-19s in a UEFA Youth League draw against Real Madrid.

“I didn’t know if you knew!” he said.

“It was quite a long time ago.

— UEFA Men’s Youth (@UEFAMensYouth) September 5, 2022

“It was also kind of a dream come true, if you can help your team in these last minutes, so that’s also something very nice to look back on.”

MUTV subscribers can watch part one of Senne Lammens’s signing interview now, with part two to follow on Wednesday.

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