Senne Lammens is Manchester United's standout signing

Senne Lammens has moved quickly from smart budget buy to the summer signing Manchester United fans are talking about most. He joined for a reported £18.2m, has made 30 appearances in all competitions, and made his debut against Sunderland on October 30. The praise has been loud enough that Rio Ferdinand and Owen Hargreaves are now arguing he has changed the feel of the team.

Why the goalkeeper has become the story

Owen Hargreaves did not bury the point in caveats. “I'll tell you who's probably been the best signing of all of them: Senne Lammens. What did he cost? Not a lot so he's been value for money,” he told metro.co.uk. He also added: “But I do think if they hadn't have sorted the goalkeeper out, they wouldn't be in the top-four.”

That is a fair read of how this United side has been discussed. Bryan Mbeumo and Matheus Cunha have brought attacking output, with 19 goals between them in all competitions, but the strongest endorsement in the brief is still about what happened behind them. Rio Ferdinand said, “The calmness that he's brought, the amount of saves that he's made and the difference-making that he's made with this team, I don't think you can put a number on that.”

The Sunderland debut matters because it gave the argument a clean starting point. Lammens rated 9.2 in that 0-0 draw, and his last five league ratings listed in the brief are 9.2, 5.9, 7.5, 7.2 and 7.2. That is not the profile of a keeper carrying the team on fumes. It is the profile of a signing settling in and making United look more stable from the back.

Why Ferdinand's long-term view is not wild

Ferdinand went one step further and said: “I think he's one for the next 10 years at Manchester United, he's going to be the No.1.” That is obviously a projection, not a fact. Still, it is backed up by the broader shape of the evidence in the brief, which points to Lammens being treated as the established option rather than a short-term patch.

The 30 appearances matter here. So does the speed at which he has become part of the conversation around the team’s season. For a club that spent over £200m on four summer signings, the goalkeeper who cost £18.2m is the one being described as the best-value addition. That is a pretty clear sign of where the confidence has shifted.

How the rest of United's summer changes the verdict

United's other big-money additions explain why the argument has landed so strongly. The club spent over £200m on Matheus Cunha, Bryan Mbeumo, Benjamin Sesko and Lammens. Cunha and Mbeumo have shared 19 goals in all competitions, so this is not a case of the attack doing nothing. But Hargreaves' point still stands: if the goalkeeper situation had not been solved, the rest of the rebuild would look a lot less settled.

There is a reason that line has cut through. Ally McCoist said United had “no confidence at all in what was behind them” and that “all of a sudden they have someone who they do have confidence in.” That is the part United fans will recognise. The shot-stopping matters, but the real gain is the sense that the team is not braced for a mistake every time the ball goes back to goal.

Jason Cundy's warning about Michael Carrick is separate, but it gives a useful reminder not to overstate certainty. Carrick has won 10 of his 15 matches in charge, and Cundy cautioned that United could be “sleepwalking themselves into an Ole Gunnar Solskjaer situation.” He was talking about judgement over time, not about Lammens specifically, but the wider message is clear enough: good short runs need the right proof over a longer stretch.

For now, the evidence around Lammens is strong. The fee looks modest, the appearances add up, and the praise from Ferdinand and Hargreaves is not being thrown around lightly. If United are being measured on value from the summer, the goalkeeper is the name doing the heaviest lifting.