Man United transfer news: Paul Scholes suggests Red Devils may need to make difficult decision and bring in replacement for 24-year-old

By Matt Law | 15 Sep 2026 12:33, Last updated: 15 Sep 2026 12:36

Former Manchester United midfielder Paul Scholes has doubted whether Senne Lammens is the answer for the Red Devils between the sticks.

Lammens has established himself as Man United's number one goalkeeper since making the switch from Belgian outfit Royal Antwerp during last summer's transfer window.

However, the 24-year-old has only kept nine clean sheets in his 38 appearances for the Red Devils, conceding 48 times in the process.

Lammens has already conceded seven times in four Premier League matches this season.

Scholes has questioned whether the Belgian is the top-class goalkeeper that Man United need in order to return to being a successful outfit.

“What team have you seen win the Premier League without a top-class goalkeeper?” Scholes said on The Good, The Bad and The Football podcast. "Lammens might be that, I don’t know. I think the jury’s probably still out on that.

“You need a top-class goalkeeper. You think of Liverpool’s team with Alisson, City’s teams with… [David] 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 [Carrick] has just got to be patient and wait for that, I don’t know.”

There are no suggestions at this moment in time that Man United are concerned about Lammens, who has been largely impressive since his arrival at Old Trafford.

Lammens will certainly be wanting more clean sheets, as they have been hard to find since his arrival, but many of the issues have come ahead of him.

Man United are simply not defending well enough as a team at this moment in time, with opposition sides given encouragement of finding the back of the net against them.

The 20-time English champions are expected to overhaul their defence during next summer's transfer window, with a right-back, left-back and at least one centre-back potentially arriving.

There will be no immediate fix, though, and it will be interesting to see whether Lammens' back-up Karl Darlow is handed his debut for Man United in Wednesday's EFL Cup clash with Brighton & Hove Albion.

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