Lammens has Man United scrambling to redraw transfer plans

Lammens has Man United scrambling to redraw transfer plans

Over the past few years an apparently serious Manchester United operated an astonishingly cavalier policy of merrily building a fatal flaw directly into their first team.

First Erik ten Hag then Ruben Amorim sought to drag the club back to the top level while hampered by chronically bad goalkeepers, hoping their opposition simply wouldn’t cotton on to the fact that a couple of probing crosses or speculative long shots would probably get them something.

Any player can make mistakes, and it’s a fact of football that a goalkeeper’s error is the most obvious and costly on the pitch, but in Andre Onana and Altay Bayindir United had two shotstoppers simply not up to the task.

Enter Lammens

The late arrival of the unassuming Senne Lammens last summer was not supposed to create great waves, but so stagnant was the position between the posts that there was a desperation to believe that the young Belgian was the one.

And, to general amazement, he rose to the challenge. Signed for potential rather than immediate impact, the steely-eyed Lammens gently eased the first-team position from Bayindir’s stupefied grip in early October and has played every second for United since.

The 23-year-old has so far been that rarest of beasts for United, an unmitigated transfer success – but one which has thrown up a new problem for INEOS to solve.

Depth becomes a problem

There should be no question of going into next season with anyone but Lammens as United’s number 1 – that he currently wears the number 31 is little more than a technicality to be straightened out in the close season.

But the Belgian’s prodigious progress has at a stroke collapsed the structure of the club’s goalkeeping department. He was signed as backup, to initially provide depth and ultimately challenge for the first team, but that timeline has been comprehensively crunched.

United still require that depth but none of their current options work to provide it.

Onana and Bayindir

Onana, currently embarked on a predictably tumultuous loan spell at Trabzonspor in Turkey, will return to Old Trafford in the summer. If all goes to plan and United qualify for the Champions League, his wages will be higher than ever while his chances of playing a major role for the club ever again remain close to zero.

The Cameroonian is believed to be eager to regain his starting spot, but that’s impossible to take seriously. He is unlikely to settle for a backup role, but equally unlikely to get a big move – United will have to find a way to minimise the disruption he will certainly cause, and be prepared to swallow a difficult financial pill along the way.

The Bayindir situation is much simpler. Aged 27, the Turkish international understandably wants to be first-choice somewhere and that is evidently not going to happen at United. Links to clubs in his homeland rarely go away, and his departure is expected this summer.

Vitek gamble

Elsewhere, academy product Radek Vitek has been seriously impressive on loan at Bristol City this season, building on his already formidable reputation at United. He has been a regular fixture at a decent Championship side, so is unlikely to welcome a season as backup to anyone, least of all a goalkeeper just one year his senior.

Were Lammens a little less comfortable, having him and Vitek vying for first choice could be an attractive option, but the Belgian seems settled and interfering with that would be foolish.

Whether United try and retain Vitek with another loan or gamble on Lammens and permanently sell his Czech counterpart remains to be seen, but Vitek’s chance for an audition for the top job suddenly seems in great jeopardy.

Back to the transfer market

Working on the entirely reasonable basis that Bayindir will gladly depart, Onana shuffles off with bad grace and Vitek heads for an exit – loan or otherwise – United’s goalkeeping department looks very bare indeed.

Professional third-choice option Tom Heaton turns 40 next week and is out of contract at the end of the season so also barely registers in an equation which starts to show the need for United to sign at least one established backup goalkeeper.

It’s not a glamorous use of funds in a window which should be focused on rebuilding the midfield but is every bit as necessary.

Still young and relatively inexperienced, Lammens needs a structure around him which can offer protection should his form dip, and with the club looking to compete on all fronts next season their rotation options should be far more robust than a hastily-promoted academy prospect.

A return to the transfer market is therefore needed as United come to terms with the goalkeeping ouroboros they created with the inspired signing of an unknown entity from Belgium.

Featured image Justin Setterfield via Getty Images

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