Phil Jones has issued a warning to new Manchester United goalkeeper Senne Lammens and claimed former star David de Gea would still be ‘top drawer’ at Old Trafford.
After Lammens’ £18 million deadline-day transfer from Royal Antwerp, he will contend with Altay Bayindir for a spot in the United squad.
Despite being Ruben Amorim’s number one last season, Andre Onana missed United’s opening three Premier League games.
Following Lammens’ arrival, Manchester United opened their doors to offers for Onana. They have since reached an agreement with Trabzonspor to loan the Cameroon international.
Although Gary Neville believes Lammens will start as backup, it is unclear if Amorim would make him his first-choice goalie right away.
Jones, a former Manchester United defender, questions whether Lammens has the “capacity” or “experience” to be the starting quarterback at this point in his career.
Before being transferred to Old Trafford on deadline day, Lammens played 63 games for Antwerp, a team in Belgium.
“Obviously, the goalkeeper situation was the most intriguing one for Manchester United in the last few days,” Jones told Ladbrokes.
We all probably believed that the Emiliano Martinez deal would go through, but it clearly didn’t, and the club ultimately signed Senne Lammens from Royal Antwerp.
‘Don’t get me wrong; it can be a rewarding one at the same time, but I think you’ve got to come in and deal with that pressure straight away.
‘I don’t know too much about his journey to Antwerp’s first-team, but I don’t think he has the capacity – or experience – right now to deal with being the number one at Old Trafford, playing in front of 90,000 people.
‘He’ll realise as soon as he comes in just how big the club is. Listen, hopefully it goes swimmingly for him and we’ve found ourselves the new number one.
‘He might not be number one at first, we don’t know… but I just think it’s such an important position to get right.’
Manchester United paid £47m to sign Onana from Inter Milan in 2023 after releasing club legend De Gea.
Before United signed Lammens, there were rumours the Red Devils were considering a shock move to bring De Gea back to the Theatre of Dreams.
De Gea is one of the greatest goalkeepers in Manchester United’s history but appeared to be on the decline towards the end of his spell at Old Trafford.
But Jones believes his former United teammate would still be ‘top drawer’ for the Red Devils.
‘David de Gea had a really tough first season at the club when he first came in – really tough,’ he added.
‘There were a few mistakes in there, but after that, he was just terrific for the club… everything about him, from his performances to his charisma, was just through the roof.
‘He was such a pivotal player for us during my time with the club. To be honest, I still think he’d be top drawer for United today.
‘He wouldn’t look out of place at all. He’s the kind of player who – in a nice way – just didn’t care about all the noise around him. When you’re playing for Man United, or any of those top clubs, you have to have a bit of that about you.
‘He’d make mistakes, and they’d hit the headlines because of the size of the club, but it never affected him.
‘You know, he’d just go on and make save after save in the next game, and pull something special out of nowhere.
‘There aren’t many players like that; he’s up there with the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and Jude Bellingham in that respect; all of those top players have this ability to just not care about all of the noise.’
Lammens was Manchester United’s fifth and final signing of the summer following Matheus Cunha, Bryan Mbeumo, Diego Leon and Benjamin Sesko.
Leave a Reply