Senne Lammens arrived at Manchester United in the summer as a young goalkeeper with limited experience, before quickly becoming a solid first-choice option and playing a significant role in the team’s current unbeaten run.
Manchester United football director Jason Wilcox confirmed the background story to Senne Lammens’ move to England. It started when club scout Tony Coton put the young Belgian goalkeeper on the club’s radar last year.
The Reds closely monitored Lammens’ progress at Royal Antwerp before completing a deal in the summer.
Lammens replaced Altay Bayindir between the sticks at United, while his arrival led to Andre Onana’s loan move to Trabzonspor.
As a clear sign of improvement, United are unbeaten in five matches since Lammens started between the sticks. Ruben Amorim’s side has also kept its first clean sheet of the season in that time.
Frederic De Boever highlights the rise of Senne Lammens
Current AS Monaco goalkeeper coach Frederic De Boever has shared his story about working with Lammens during his time with Club Brugge.
De Boever speaks about how Lammens left a memorable first impression on him as a 17-year-old. He was impressed by the young goalkeeper’s personality and potential.
It also helps that Club Brugge created a good environment for the young keeper to develop.
“Big applause for Club Brugge, there,” De Boever told Goalkeeper.com.
“They had new training facilities which were, for me, for sure, the best in Belgium at that time. Even in Europe it was top, to be honest.
“A Belgian club who have those kinds of facilities indoor and outdoor, it was impressive. To have the opportunity as a young boy to work in those facilities, you always step up. You are more motivated to do the job, you have all possibilities on the pitch.
“Great pitches, the gym was quality, so were the video meetings, so he came into an environment for top professionals at that time.”
Lammens worked regularly with former Brugge goalkeeper Simon Mignolet before the experienced Belgian joined Liverpool. De Boever also hails the new United stopper for being ‘hugely intelligent’ and ‘open-minded’ to learn new things.
However, perhaps one of the most important factors behind Lammens’ development is the four pillars of goalkeeping.
“We were talking then about the four pillars of goalkeeping,” De Boever continued.
“It’s about positioning; game-reading – recognising the situation – and it’s also about decision-making – what decision do you make in the moment you recognise the situation – and, of course, the fourth pillar is the execution.
“So, we constantly – after every game he played – were making the analysis about those four pillars. It wasn’t just a one-way direction from me as a coach asking him; it was really a conversation, and he was asking question after question after question. What is good? What can I do better? He started analysing himself also and did it by using those four pillars. He made a lot of progress through this.”
Ruben Amorim is excited about Senne Lammens
“He can kick long balls with a lot of quality with both feet, and that is a detail that can change the way we play the game.”
Ruben Amorim in October 2025
Senne Lammens is a ‘self-made goalkeeper’
De Boever also highlights the importance of choosing the right clubs and coaches to work with.
Now at Monaco, De Boever reflects on his time with Lammens and believes he is a self-made goalkeeper because of the people he has been surrounded by in the early stages of his career.
He added: “Then for me the fifth factor is about the steps in your career; what is the choice of the clubs or the coaches you work with? Who do you surround yourself with?
“I talk about managers, about the people around you, all those things, I think everything has to come together and a lot of times a goalkeeper makes himself.
“Senne is, for me, an example of a self-made goalkeeper because everybody who worked with him, on and off the pitch, everybody who surrounded him in his daily life, made Senne, to be honest – but that’s a result of his own choices.”
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