Michael Carrick urged to replace £18m Manchester United star: 'It's a big ask'

Manchester United manager Michael Carrick (Picture: Shutterstock)

Manchester United have been urged to sign a more experienced goalkeeper to replace Senne Lammens despite his impressive first season at Old Trafford.

Belgian goalkeeper Lammens completed an £18.1m move to United from Royal Antwerp on transfer deadline day last summer.

But despite his moderate fee and low profile, Lammens quickly displaced Altay Bayindir to become the first choice under Ruben Amorim and his replacement Michael Carrick.

The 24-year-old kept eight clean sheets in his 32 Premier League appearances last season, with former Red Devils midfielder Owen Hargreaves labelling him United’s ‘signing of the season’.

However, not everyone is as convinced by the Belgian heading into this season, with former Premier League winger Micky Gray adamant that the Red Devils need a more experienced goalkeeper between the sticks.

‘I’d still personally look at an experienced, quality goalkeeper,’ Gray told talkSPORT. ‘And people might go, “well, they’ve got Lamens”, who came in and did brilliantly.

‘He’s a young goalkeeper, and I know it worked eventually with David de Gea, who eventually became a sensation at Man United. He was a brilliant goalkeeper, one of the best they’ve ever had.

Senne Lammens joined from Royal Antwerp last season (Picture: Getty)

‘But do you give Lamens the time? Do you give him Champions League football? Do you give him Premier League football as well, two games a week? It’s a big ask.

‘There’s still quite a lot to be done at Manchester United, but I do expect them to be challenging, certainly for the top four again.’

United have already signed Karl Darlow on a free transfer from Leeds United to serve as a back-up to Lammens, who is yet to report back for pre-season training after his spell at the World Cup with Belgium.

Lammens made 32 Premier League appearances last season (Picture: Getty)

Lammens played second fiddle to Thibaut Courtois throughout the tournament, but saw his only appearance end in disappointment after he spilt an effort into the path of Mikel Merino, who steered home to give Spain a 2-1 victory in the quarter-final.

Lammens was distraught at full-time, but Tom Heaton has backed his United teammate to put the mistake behind him ahead of the new season.

‘It was obviously a challenging moment for him, but that’s the life of a goalkeeper,’ Heaton recently said.

‘As soon as you put the gloves on and go between the sticks, you have to be ready to deal with that.

Karl Darlow has arrived as Lammens’ back-up (Picture: Getty)

‘It is tough, but Senne is very strong mentally. I saw that from him as a young goalkeeper coming into Manchester United and dealing with it unbelievably well.’

Alongside the aforementioned Darlow, United have signed Andrey Santos and Youri Tielemans from Premier League rivals Chelsea and Aston Villa as they look to bolster their options in central midfield.