It's been almost six months since Senne Lammens swapped his native Belgium for England to continue his development at Manchester United.
The club’s first Belgian goalkeeper has established himself as a regular between the sticks and made his senior international debut in November.
Lammens has previously expressed that he looked up to his fellow countrymen Simon Mignolet and Thibaut Courtois in the early days of his career, as well as Germany’s Manuel Neuer.
There are two other familiar figures, nevertheless, that have been bedrocks at United for many years that set the standard and example for Senne.
“Growing up, of course, David De Gea was and is still a big goalkeeper in the world, especially those years when
he was at his height in this club, so of course you watch him most of the time,”
our no.31 told Premier League Productions.
“But when I was growing up, it was 2008/2009, that was prime United as well, so it was van der Sar in goal then. I don't really recall one particular save… I think I also can resonate with him more.
“Our characters are maybe a bit more alike, and just every game he was solid and he was there and he was a rock behind the defence. That's also when I always tell some teammates, because you're at this big club and you have so many good team-mates, you also sometimes have to give them the possibility to shine.
“As a goalkeeper, sometimes you just don't really have to make too many big saves, you just don't want to give the game away, you always want to stay in the game. So then it's players like Bruno Fernandes or other people, attackers can make the difference in the game, so that's also something I'm trying to do, to keep my team in the game when it needs to be.”
Next up for United is a testing trip to Merseyside on Monday night to face David Moyes’s Everton - and Lammens is keen to make amends for the 1-0 defeat the Reds suffered against the Toffees at Old Trafford in November.
“I think I would say it every week that it's an important game, but especially this one for me, because our home game against them was a really tough loss, playing against 10 men as well, so I think we also owe it to ourselves and to
the fans to keep that in mind and to get a reaction.
“I think the way we're playing right now, of course with the last five games, which were good, you just want to keep that momentum going after a week without a game.”