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’.
Get personalised football updates every day
Sign up to our daily football newsletter and choose your team to get the latest news, rumours and more direct to your inbox every morning.
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.
‘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 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.
‘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.
And Gray was particularly impressed by the signing of Tielemans, saying: ‘It’s obviously early in the transfer window, but I think Youri Tielemans is the signing of the summer.
‘For the price that they’ve gotten for the experience that he brings. I’m not saying he’s the exact same replacement for what Casemiro brought to Manchester United.
‘I thought Casemiro, in the last six months of his Man United career, was absolutely brilliant, and the importance of some of the goals that he brought to Man United were key. But I think Tielemans can certainly bring that.
‘I think he will help with the experience of walking in the dressing room. He’s got that in abundance. I think he’ll help players like Kobbie Mainoo and what he brings to Manchester United certainly improves them. I personally think he does.’
For more stories like this, check our sport page.
Follow Metro Sport for the latest news on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.