Photo by Robbie Jay Barratt - AMA/Getty Images
Photo by Robbie Jay Barratt - AMA/Getty Images
The yearly Yashin award for the best goalkeeper in the world is to be decided in the next few months, and Senne Lammens’ name is not among those nominated.
Senne Lammens probably doesn’t deserve to be named the best goalkeeper in the world this year, despite how good his first season at Manchester United was.
Lammens is still developing as a goalkeeper, and the best is yet to come during his career, which should eventually see him considered at a world-class level.
But considering the goalkeepers on the list ahead of him, Lammens should rightfully be furious at his snubbing.
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Senne Lammens deserved recognition ahead of Vozinha
I hadn’t expected Lammens to be in the conversation for world’s best goalkeeper because right now he isn’t, the shortlist makes it abundantly clear that the Belgian should have at least been on the longlist.
The most glaring goalkeeper included at the expense of Lammens or another more deserving goalkeeper is Vozinha.
This being Cape Verde’s goalkeeper from the World Cup, who went viral for his performance, or rather, three world-class saves, with international football being a fairly poor indicator.
Vozinha plays for Colo-Colo in Mexico, which is a drastically lower level than Lammens at United, meaning these appearances at the club level are unlikely to be taken into account.
To see Vozinha on the list, therefore, based on these few displays and more likely the fact that he was a big name on social media for a few weeks, should have Lammens absolutely believing he could and should have made the list over him.
Lammens could quite easily dispute his place over three other names on the list, considering the level he was playing at for United, and also given that he did it in the Premier League.
Yassine Bounou
Edouard Mendy
Emiliano Martinez
However, clearly, the World Cup played a major part in the nominees, which is absolutely not a good thing for the award to be viewed as reputable, considering it was just a few games.
What Senne Lammens needs at Manchester United to get world-class shouts
While Lammens being ‘world-class’ right now is a hard sell, he absolutely has the quality and potential to reach this level during his career; he can’t do it alone.
Lammens rarely makes a mistake or concedes goals that aren’t either absolute screamers or the result of defensive weakness in front of him.
For example, in United’s 2-2 draw against Everton, Lammens saw two shots from very low xG positions fly into his top corner, with poor defending allowing them to get the shot away.
If United stops conceding these goals, it is hard to see a reason Lammens wouldn’t start getting lots of clean sheets, which would fire him up the goalkeeper rankings worldwide.
Lammens has it all to become one of the finest in the world; he just needs his teammates to help him.
So he just needs luck and better defenders before he could become a virtually unbeatable goalkeeper.