Ruben Amorim says it’s too soon for Senne Lammens to be compared to Manchester United’s legendary former goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel.
Lammens produced a fine performance on his debut for the Red Devils as United secured a 2-0 Premier League win over Sunderland at Old Trafford.
United signed Lammens from Belgian club Royal Antwerp on deadline day in the summer transfer window as a replacement for Andre Onana.
It was reported that United paid €21m (£18.1m) plus add-ons for the young goalkeeper, with the 23-year-old signing a five-year contract at the club.
In Amorim’s pre-match press conference on Friday, ahead of United’s trip to Liverpool on Sunday, one reporter asked the United head coach: ‘When your goalkeeper puts in a performance like that… Fans are calling Lammens the new Schmeichel. Does that make him impossible to drop?’
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Amorim said: ‘Nothing is impossible. You have to prove it during the week [in training].
‘Of course, he did a great job. It is possible he is going to start [against Liverpool]. The first impression in this club is really important but to maintain it is even more. He is not Schmeichel yet.
‘He is a young guy with talent and he showed a lot of composure – the fans liked it. But that is now in the past, we need to show it in the next game.’
Schmeichel played 398 games for United from 1991 to 1999, famously helping the Red Devils win a treble under Sir Alex Ferguson as United won the Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League in the same season.
United won a total of five Premier League titles during Schmeichel’s time at the club and three FA Cups.
Man Utd injury news ahead of Liverpool clash
Ahead of the clash against Liverpool, Amorim has provided an injury update on a number of his players.
‘Licha (Lisandro Martinez) is not available,’ Amorim added. ‘He is near but he is just returning to training with the team.
‘Noussair Mazraoui, I don’t know [yet]. The rest of the guys, the national players are ready but if you saw the games, some of the players played in Japan so we need to be careful to give more time.
‘Bruno [Fernandes] played 62 minutes so we give him one more day. We try to balance everything to get everyone ready but the guys who are returning from national teams are ready to play.’
Quizzed about facing Liverpool, Amorim continued: ‘Sometimes things change really fast but if you see the history of both clubs, you can feel that sometimes you have one club that is winning, winning, winning and one club that is having a bad moment.
‘That happened with Liverpool when Manchester United was winning everything and that happened with Manchester United when Liverpool was winning everything. We have to acknowledge that and be really honest with the fans.
‘We can win any game, if we think about winning the next game, that is the most important thing, we can win the next game. If we are to be the same level as Liverpool in the future, that is the idea, I don’t know how long it is going to take.’