Lammens: You could say it's a Belgian thing

Senne Lammens is part of a growing trend of goalkeepers from the Low Countries making their mark in the Premier League.

The Manchester United star is one of five men from Belgium or the Netherlands who has been getting game-time with a top-flight club this term.

Matz Sels, of Nottingham Forest, is a competitor for his country, while Dutch keepers Marco Bizot (Aston Villa), Robin Roefs (Sunderland) and Bart Verbruggen (Brighton & Hove Albion) have also shown their qualities. 

Lammens may not have been the first Belgian keeper to represent United, had Alex Ferguson's bid to sign Jean-Marie Pfaff in the mid-1980s paid off, but he is rightly now showing just why his region is producing footballers and personalities ideally equipped for the Premier League.

“If you also see the national teams, I think, in general, the goalkeeper quality in those countries is quite high,” Senne told us.

“So I think it's no surprise for me that a lot of goalkeepers from Belgium and the Netherlands play in the Premier League now. It's nice to see as well that, from a young age, they try to work with the goalkeepers and that it pans out well with the people coming through.

”I think we have always had a couple of the best keepers in the world in Belgium - Thibaut Courtois, whom I train with in the Belgium team, is a big example as well, as to how big Belgian goalkeeping is in the world. So I hope I can get my career going and to also maybe get to the point of that.“

When it was suggested that calmness was a personality trait that suits the role of the modern keeper, Lammens replied: “Yeah, it probably is actually.

”I think with Belgian people, sometimes Dutch people as well, although sometimes they can be quite open and quite different to me, for example.

“But I would say so. It's one of my things, I think one of my biggest qualities as well is to try to bring calm and peace to the defence. 

”So, yeah, you could say that it's maybe also a Belgian thing.

“I think being calm and steady and collected is one of the things that most managers and clubs look at in a goalkeeper, because it's one of the most difficult positions. 

“So you want to get, like, trust in your goalkeeper and I hope I can do that as well, in the future.

”I think I've done a pretty good job at it in these past games.“