Data helped drive the search for a new goalkeeper that led Manchester United to Belgian prospect Senne Lammens.
The 23-year-old had shown in his first season as a regular at Royal Antwerp that he was the real deal, registering figures that were outstanding, even when placed into a wider context.
In 2024/25, our new no.31 made a staggering 173 saves, as his team finished fifth in the Belgian Pro League.
“Last season was a little bit of everything coming together, every single piece falling together, so if you see the stats, it’s what I’ve worked for my entire life, so it’s really nice last season that I could show myself to the outside world,”
he told upon arriving at his new home.
”I was very proud of that last season.“
The 173 saves were not only the most logged in the division since Opta started studying it in depth but it also compared favourably across the 10 biggest leagues in Europe.
In fact, Lammens was well clear of the next highest keeper in the list, Mark Flekken. The Dutchman made 153 stops for Brentford and has since moved to Bayer Leverkusen in the Bundesliga.
Joan Garcia was third, and his work earned a transfer from Espanyol to Barcelona, with another Belgian league number one, Colin Coosemans of Anderlecht in fourth spot, when it comes to this metric.
MOST SAVES IN TOP 10-LEAGUES 2024/25
1. Senne Lammens (Royal Antwerp) - 173
2. Mark Flekken (Brentford) - 153
3. Joan Garcia (Espanyol) - 146
4. Colin Coosemans (Anderlecht) - 138
5. Yahia Fofana (Angers) - 136
6. Ortwin De Wolf (Mechelen) - 135
6. Yehvann Diouf (Reims) - 135
6. Gautier Larsonneur (Saint-Etienne) - 135
6. Vanja Milinkovic-Savic (Torino) - 135
10. Sergio Herrera (Osasuna) - 132
And it is not just the sheer volume of saves from Lammens that impressed over the course of the campaign.
The former Club Brugge man also kept out the vast majority of those shots, displaying his agility, reflexes and anticipation.
Indeed, only three other keepers enjoyed a higher percentage (when making over 50 saves in the course of the campaign), with another Belgian, Gent's Davy Roef leading the way in this regard.
It clearly caught the eye of the United scouts, with a deal wrapped up on deadline day to bring Senne into the fold, with head coach Ruben Amorim explaining how he views his latest signing fitting into his plans in the long term.
“We are really pleased [with him],”
Amorim said. “He's a goalkeeper with a lot of potential.
”A guy with great potential that is one more option, one more option to play, and he'll be ready. We have an option that can give us different things in the moment, but also has a great potential to be our goalkeeper for a lot of years.“
HIGHEST SAVE PERCENTAGES IN TOP-10 LEAGUES 2024/25 (50+ SAVES)
1. Davy Roef (Gent) - 79.2%
2. Colin Coosemans (Anderlecht) - 78.3%
3. Dominik Holec (Banik Ostrava) - 77.9%
4. Finn Dahmen (Augsberg) - 77.4%
4. Senne Lammens (Royal Antwerp) - 77.4%