Manchester United sign Senne Lammens in a £18.1m transfer from Royal Antwerp – as Red Devils bolster their goalkeeping options

Manchester United have looked to address their goalkeeping problems by signing young goalkeeper Senne Lammens from Royal Antwerp on deadline day.

The Red Devils have paid an initial £18.1million for the 23-year-old shot-stopper, with the transfer including add-ons.

Lammens, who is uncapped at international level for Belgium, has put pen-to-paper on a five-year contract at Old Trafford.

Senne Lammens ‘extremely proud’ to join Manchester United

Lammens, who was linked with a move to Aston Villa, spoke of his delight at the move, saying: ‘I am extremely proud to be joining Manchester United. It is a real dream come true.

‘The past few years have been an amazing journey, it’s now ended in an incredible destination and hopefully the beginning of something special.’

United’s director of football Jason Wilcox added: ‘Senne is an excellent young goalkeeper with great potential.

‘We are delighted that he has chosen to join Manchester United after significant interest from a number of clubs.’

Manchester United will hope Lammens can fix goalkeeper issues

Goalkeeper has been a problem position for Manchester United since David de Gea’s exit two years ago.

Andre Onana joined in the summer of 2023 as De Gea’s replacement but has been heavily criticised after several high-profile errors since joining. That continued last Wednesday night when United were embarrassingly knocked out of the Carabao Cup second round by Grimsby Town.

Altay Bayandir has started all three of United’s Premier League games this season and hasn’t covered himself in glory – with his error the difference in a 1-0 season-opening loss to Arsenal. Meanwhile current third-choice Tom Heaton, 39, has not made a senior appearance for United since February 1, 2023.

Lammens, who was named in the Belgium national team squad for the first time in March, made 64 appearances for Royal Antwerp and helped them win the Belgian Super Cup in 2023.

Last season, he made 30 appearances in the Belgian Pro League, keeping seven clean sheets and making 173 saves.

That was 20 more than any other goalkeeper in Europe’s top-10 leagues, while no player saved more penalties than his four.

The Red Devils fan base will hope he can translate his form from Belgium to England.