Senne Lammens was the star of the show for Manchester United during Saturday’s 2-0 win over Sunderland.
After Altay Bayindir’s struggling start to the 2025/26 season, Ruben Amorim simply had to drop him with Senne Lammens waiting in the wings.
It was long overdue, but Amorim finally started Lammens against Sunderland in the 2-0 win, and immediately, the Belgian was an upgrade on his Turkish teammate.
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Lammens earned the respect of United fans during his debut, with the Stretford End asking whether he was “Schmeichel in disguise”.
In a poll after the game, Lammens was named man of the match by United fans, which speaks volumes about the performance he put in.
Lammens dominated in goal, claiming high crosses and making big saves to secure the win, and now Rio Ferdinand has voiced his opinion on the new number one.
Senne Lammens rolls the ball out for Manchester United
Photo by Robbie Jay Barratt – AMA/Getty Images
Rio Ferdinand raves about Senne Lammens
Lammens has finally replaced David de Gea at United, after Andre Onana and Bayindir failed to achieve this.
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The performance was excellent, and as a result, Lammens has earned a fan in Ferdinand, who raved about him during his latest ‘Rio Ferdinand Presents’ podcast.
“That must instil so much confidence in the back line, and then it spreads through the team. You’ve got to bear in mind that whether you support the goalkeepers that were there before or not, most games we were coming out of, and there was a question mark or something, an incident that happened in the game and was talked about on our show or loads of other different shows, right? If they were talking about it on our show, imagine what they’re thinking inside the dressing room when they’re thinking about their goalkeeper.
“So for a goalkeeper to come out, you know the feeling when a keeper, when a ball’s coming in the box and they’re a big team, aggressive, and the keeper comes out and claims it, that feeling of looking down at him on the floor when he’s getting back up and you go, you know what, that’s my keeper, man. That’s my goalkeeper, do you know what I mean? I don’t think they’ve been able to say that for a while because there’s been so many different mistakes and whatnot that’s gone on in questionable decision-making.
“But he just looked very, very, very secure,” Ferdinand raved. “And he looked exactly like what Courtois said in that voice note in his first game for Manchester United.”
Ruben Amorim must start Senne Lammens against Liverpool
While it seems a foregone conclusion after his performance against Sunderland, Amorim needs to make Lammens his number one permanently.
When quizzed over the decision, Amorim said it was a rotation in an effort to likely avoid any added pressure for Lammens or criticising Bayindir.
However, the gulf in quality between Lammens and Bayindir is massive, and so the Belgian starting needs to be the new status quo.
Lammens looked completely at home in what Gary Neville regularly says is the toughest job in football, but he seems made for the role.