'Very impressive' - Manchester United have unearthed a bargain signing for £18.2m

Man Utd goalkeeper Senne Lammens made an impressive debut against Sunderland in the Premier League.

"Are you Schmeichel in disguise?" was chanted at Senne Lammens against Sunderland.

That chant alone is enough to tell you how Lammens performed on his Manchester United debut last weekend. He made a confident first appearance and kept a clean sheet in a comfortable 2-0 win.

United fans celebrated the goalkeeper claiming a cross like they would react to a goal and he was congratulated by Matthijs de Ligt, Harry Maguire and Luke Shaw immediately after full-time.

Ruben Amorim said of the 23-year-old: "I think he looks confident in the first game, but the important thing is that the teammates help Senne to have a good game. Because everyone was focused, not a lot of mistakes, against a team that was really comfortable playing football."

Explaining why Lammens' debut was delayed, Amorim added: “When Senne arrived here, first of all, Altay was playing, and then he arrives, and you can feel it, that he needs to adapt.

"New country, new training, the pressure that you guys put on the goalkeepers are massive. So, it was like a little preparation for the guy to be ready to start his first game.

"But now, it's just one game, and he needs to work because he needs to be prepared that in our club, things are really hard. But he did well, and again, he was comfortable during the game and that is a very good sign."

Amorim said before the game that Lammens was starting due to rotation, but it would be a huge mistake to continue to rotate his goalkeepers after the Belgian's strong debut.

Lammens provided calmness and leadership at the back, something Altay Bayindir has been unable to do, and removing him from the team would be a backward step.

United signed Lammens for £182.million from Royal Antwerp on deadline day having considered Aston Villa's Emiliano Martinez, but club chiefs were understood to be convinced that Lammens was the best choice.

The biggest argument to sign Martinez over Lammens was that he wouldn't need time to adapt to the Premier League. The remaining arguments in favour of the Argentine were not as compelling.

United scraped a win against Burnley on the eve of deadline day, and Amorim said: "We are in that moment. I think it is hard to be a Manchester United goalkeeper in this moment."

However, Lammens made it look easy against Sunderland and will become cherished by supporters if he can reproduce that level of performance consistently in the coming weeks.

Fans are desperate to watch a decent goalkeeper again. They wanted to believe that they were watching the second coming of Schmeichel against Sunderland last weekend.

United have been represented by some world-class goalkeepers in history, but they have also made their fair share of bad goalkeeper signings. Onana, Massimo Taibi and Mark Bosnich are just some on that list.

De Gea and Edwin van der Sar don't buy a drink when they return to Manchester and Lammens is hoping to have a similar impact after sparkling during his first appearance.

Amorim has been patient with Lammens - resisting the urge to introduce him to prevent damage to his confidence - and it made sense to finally play him against Sunderland at Old Trafford.

The fixture was a huge opportunity to keep a clean sheet. He obliged and is now primed to face a genuine test in Liverpool after the international break.

“He’s been really good, looks really sharp – I’ve been really impressed with him and I’m really looking forward to playing with him,” said Luke Shaw about Lammens after his arrival.

Tom Heaton said: “I didn’t know too much about him. It’s only been a few days’ training but he seems like a really good lad; calm but a strong personality. His goalkeeping fundamentals are very impressive.”

Mason Mount was the latest dressing room member to praise Lammens when he spoke after Sunderland, saying: "Senne coming in as well. It was a solid performance. Any danger of them pressing, he puts it into Ben (Sesko) and we work off that. I think he kind of released the pressure a lot today."

You cannot blame United fans for getting carried away about Lammens' potential. And the £18.2m transfer fee could prove to be a bargain if he develops into the player United scouts believe he can become.

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