Despite the Belgian goalkeeper's rising status at Old Trafford, Paul Scholes questions whether Senne Lammens possesses the elite quality required to anchor a title-winning Manchester United defence.
Manchester United's lacklustre start to the season has come as a shock to many fans and pundits, after the Red Devils' superb end to the 25/26 campaign. Going forward, the side seems toothless and defensively, the players have been prone to mistakes and lapses in concentration.
Michael Carrick's team have failed to keep a clean sheet in their opening four Premier League matches, despite a favourable run of fixtures that included two newly promoted opponents.
Much of the blame has been shifted to the full-backs at the club, with Patrick Dorgu and Diogo Dalot both performing especially poorly in United's recent Manchester derby loss to a 10-man City side at Old Trafford. The senior players at the club have also been criticised for making the same mistakes they have been punished for in past seasons.
Defensively, one area of the pitch has not come under the same amount of criticism as the rest. But this has changed as United legend Paul Scholes has claimed a certain player in the starting eleven may not be good enough for the Red Devils to aim bigger going forward.
Scholes questions Senne Lammens' ability
Senne Lammens has been a breath of fresh air for United fans. As a player who consistently performed for both Ruben Amorim and Michael Carrick last season, the 24-year-old has cemented his place between the sticks for the foreseeable future.
However, legendary United midfielder Paul Scholes has questioned the Belgian shot-stopper's ability if his former club are looking to push on and start targeting Premier League titles in the near future.
Speaking on The Good, The Bad and The Football podcast, Scholes said: “What team have you seen win the Premier League without a top-class goalkeeper.
"Lammens might be that; I don’t know; I think the jury’s probably still out on that, and then you build from the back four, like Arsenal.
“It’s the way Arsenal started three or four years ago. Defensively, they have been absolutely brilliant.
“You need a top-class goalkeeper. You think of Liverpool’s team with Alisson, City’s teams with… Raya at Arsenal, Man United with Peter Schmeichel and Edwin van der Sar. They’ve all got brilliant, brilliant goalkeepers.
"You start from the back, of course you do. Whether Michael has just got to be patient and wait for that, I don’t know.”
The comments came off the back of United's recent 1-0 loss to Manchester City, after conceding a contentious offside goal from Erling Halaland that Lammens could do nothing about.
Lammens deserves time to prove himself
Despite United's poor defensive record so far this season, Lammens has not been directly at fault for any goal conceded. He has pulled off some important stops, including four in the 2-2 draw with Everton and another on Saturday to push an Enzo Fernandez strike onto the post.
His only clean sheet this campaign was United's 4-0 dismantling of Sabah in the Champions League, so an argument on whether he is the goalkeeper to play at Old Trafford for seasons to come is fair, to an extent.
However, given his obvious importance to United's last campaign in settling down a squad that had been scorched by André Onana's poor performances, Scholes' comments on whether he has Premier League title quality are premature and unhelpful.
The fanbase is certainly on his side, and will be hoping that the Belgian international will be able to repay their support with some big saves and more clean sheets as we progress through the season.
