Lammens hasn't been announced yet but if the deal sheet was submitted before the close of the window it can still happen. Same with Sancho. Otherwise bomb squad 1 still has him and Malacia as members.

Bomb squad 2 is already being put together. Onana and/or Bayindir seem to be early entrants. Mainoo likely to be joining soon…though he might get a reprieve under the new manager.

At least Liverpool's deal for Guehi collapsed.

I don't know (re: Bayindir being the one to go)… Bayindir was cheaper and therefore easier to move. But I think Amorim decided he had seen enough of Onana last year. Then he starts him against Grimsby… and Onana plays bad again and nearly causes Amorim to resign.

I say that to say… we will see.

Announced

A warm United welcome to our new goalkeeper: Senne Lammens! 🧤🇧🇪

— Manchester United (@ManUtd) September 1, 2025

Nothing in the past 24-48hrs has made me jump for joy.
Offloading players - a reminder of what could have been.
New GK option- optimistic but in a wait and see mode.

Bruno turned down 40m EUR per year net plus 10m in bonuses from Al Hilal

That was the most productive transfer window we've had in a long, long time. Was it the best moves? We will see, but we offloaded some poor decisions of the past and brought in some new talent.

Story coming out that Onana asked for a new contract after his pay was cut automatically 25% after missing out on champions league.

Yeah, I read that in the Athletic article that I got the Bruno stat from. Some massive balls to ask for a new contract after the season he had and the season the team had as a whole.

Can't wait to be rid of Onana. It's truly incredible how bad ETHs signings were

The only somewhat acceptable decisions the new decision makers have made is in the transfer market. They aren't killing it or anything. They are merely passable, at best. But they are better than the majority of the Woodward era decisions. Yoro seems to be a fantastic decision. Mazraoui was good value. Even De Ligt at 45m has proven his value in my opinion and they've certainly bolstered the youth ranks with a number of additions. Lots of room for improvement (Zirkzee questionable, Dorgu...we'll see I guess, Ugarte...yikes) but it's better than it used to be which is an admittedly low bar.

An analytics blog I've referenced before and like quite a lot had a blurb on Lammens signing. I've found them to hit more often than they have missed and they have (deservedly) been quite harsh on United. But they applauded the Lammens signing.

Basically, yes the EPL is a step up from the Belgian league but he was an elite shot stopper, controlled his box well, and was above average (though not elite) with the ball at his feet. One would think that shot stopping should translate well across leagues. The others may not. But nonetheless a strong signing and I wouldn't be shocked to see him start a game relatively soon to see how he fairs.

I'll take shot stopping number 1 all day everyday for my GK. The next thing is instincts on where to punch/push the ball when you can't catch it.

I feel like Onana was often undone by himself where he would put a saved ball back into a dangerous situation. The elite keepers that truly frustrate other teams are the ones that not only stop shots but make rebound put ins almost impossible.

Furlock Bones said:

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Story coming out that Onana asked for a new contract after his pay was cut automatically 25% after missing out on champions league.

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Give him an extra 5% for every save he made in the Europa final.

This guy…

If you like tactical analysis and have an Athletic subscription, the link below is for you...

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6591402/2025/09/04/manchester-united-wide-combinations-analysis/

One of my takeaways is that considering how much Amorim relies on both of his central midfielders to create opportunities, the only obvious reason for Mainoo not to be playing more regularly is his "engine" and ability to marshal the entire pitch. He is much more capable in the build up than Ugarte will ever be (if you don't have a subscription, two of the chance creation examples in the article are heavily reliant on Ugarte)

The other thing is...if you're going to move from a 4-2-3-1 to a 3-4-2-1, then it makes sense you need to ask more from your central midfielders than you otherwise would have because you are subtracting one attacker and adding a center back. So why on earth would you not strengthen the central midfielders on your team in order to strengthen your overall attack? In a 4-2-3-1, you can get away with one who is defensively focused and limited offensively, and one who is the inverse of that. That gives you 4 1/2 attacking players (with some contributions from overlapping fullbacks). In a 3-4-2-1, you need both central midfielders to contribute just to get you to 4 (3 truly attacking and 2 that are .5 as they really need to do both) attacking players (with some contributions from wingbacks).

I'm going to harp on this all season because it's going to absolutely knee cap what this team can do in Amorim's system. Mbeumo and Cunha could end up having perfectly acceptable seasons but United's refusal or inability to address the central midfield is going to be what eventually undoes Amorim this season. They went and strengthened the 2 attacking positions in his system that they had the most talent on the roster, took a high risk option to upgrade a 3rd position (Sesko) and then completely ignored the other two positions. They could have gotten so much more mileage out of just adding Mbeumo (as an example) and then getting an upgrade in central midfield.

If/when Amorim doesn't make it to the end of the season, it will at least partially be because United's transfer strategy didn't allocate their money wisely from a roster perspective.

Opta has an extensive article on City's decision to sign Donnarumma and let Ederson go that basically concludes City are coming more in line with an overall trend...less reliance on possession out of the back and more reliance on creating quick transitions. So far this year, goalkeeper pass % is down and goal kicks ending in the opponent's half is up.

https://theanalyst.com/articles/gianluigi-donnarumma-man-city-ederson-premier-league-goalkeeper-stats

There are specific teams that have focused on this for quite a while and the high press is nothing new. But it appears to have tilted to the point as being the rule and the fact that possession minded Guardiola is opting for goalies like Donnarumma and Trafford over Ederson is likely the clearest signal that playing out of the back is likely to be the exception going forward.

Well this is interesting...

Some of United's attacking stats after 3 games:

xG: 6.78 (most in EPL)
Touches in opponent's box: 99 (most in EPL)
Shots: 58 (most in EPL)
Most shots in the box: 44 (most in EPL)
Shots on target: 16 (2nd most in EPL)

xG is helped significantly by two penalties. If you take away those, the xG per shot is about .095 or so which below even last season (when it already wasn't great). It's .117 or so if you include the penalties but unlikely to get 2 penalties every 3 games for the rest of the season. The median in the league last year was almost .115. They are averaging over 19 shots a game which, over an entire season, would be way higher than anyone last season. I doubt they'll maintain that level, but last season they were managing a little over 13 shots a game so they seem to have improved at least some in that department.

For the most part, there is a high correlation between taking shots and taking good shots. If you're taking a lot of good shots, then you're likely taking a lot of shots in general, and vice versa. Brentford were an exception on the positive end (they didn't shoot often but when they did, it was a high xG shot). West Ham, Fulham, Forest, and United were exceptions on the other end last season. You would have expected them to either take less shots given how low their xG per shot was or take better shots.

United are now an egregious exception. They are shooting as much as the top shooting teams did last season (Liverpool, Chelsea, City, Bournemouth) but their xG per shot this season is at the same level as Leicester, Southampton, and Ipswich Town last season (again, I'm not counting PKs this season since they have a large affect on the small sample size). There is highly likely going to be a regression to the mean, the question is in which direction. If it's towards taking better shots at a similar volume, then they'll compare favorably in attack to City or Chelsea from last season. If it's towards taking less shots because eventually you stop shooting when they go in less than you expect them to, then their attack will revert to last season...or worse.

So we are suing to kick Grimsby out of the EFL cup, right?

I'm suing my brain for remembering and my eyes for watching.

Attempting to loan Onana

🚨💣 BREAKING: Trabzonspor reach verbal agreement with Manchester United to sign André Onana on loan.

Club to club verbal agreement in place and final decision now up to Onana.

It’s only up to the goalkeeper. 🇹🇷 pic.twitter.com/QUCxgIEN9u

— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) September 6, 2025

Curious what the loan stipulations would be. They are not one of the traditionally wealthier Turkish clubs and typically spend less than 10m on their transfers. My guess is they are paying 50% at best. Grimsby was indeed the final straw it seems.

Lammens era just got moved up significantly. He probably doesn't start against City but…you never know.

Athletic reporting no fee or option to buy which is unsurprising. What I had forgotten is that Onana's reps asked United if they should look for exit options after he was left out of the squad against Fulham. United said no.

I'm not of the opinion that Onana should stick around but that's not a great look for United. It's the type of thing that will get around amongst players and have players questioning their actions/words. Either United did a 180 based solely on the Grimsby game or they lied because they weren't sure what GK option they could bring in at that point. Either way, not a great look.

I don't think they cared too much about Onana's feelings after he pushed for a brand new contract. F em.

Well he asked for his new contract during preseason, we just didn't find out he had until after. I think what Grimsby changed was Amorim said, "I'm not picking this MF'er again ever. You guys can either fire me or deal with it."

I wouldn't either after that. Probably should have made the decision then though and not 5 days after most transfer windows have closed. Same if it was Grimsby alone that did it.

Well I stand corrected. Onana agrees to the loan at Trabzonspor and they are covering his entire salary. In fact, he can earn almost double his current salary based on incentives.

It's so good to hear Onana got that pay raise he was looking for.

https://www.reddit.com/r/ManchesterUnited/s/U6oxp9jIpm

Great video showing some of Onana's incredible highlights over the past 2 years

No Mount, Cunha, or Dalot for the game on Sunday. That probably confirms at least 9 of the starters (Amad at RB at Bruno next to Mbeumo in attacking mid). I'm guessing Sesko starts but wouldn't be shocked if it was Zirkzee (not like Sesko trained with the team during the break). Would be a crime if Mainoo didn't start in midfield but I wouldn't put it past Amorim to put Casemiro and Ugarte in at midfield against a team that's better than his.

Paul Parker was just slagging Onana this morning on the football show. Maybe the Onana saga will put to bed the whole shot stopping vs plays with his feet argument.

It's great to have both. But, if you are going to be better at one over the other, then make it shot stopping.

Furlock Bones said:

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Paul Parker was just slagging Onana this morning on the football show. Maybe the Onana saga will put to bed the whole shot stopping vs plays with his feet argument.

It's great to have both. But, if you are going to be better at one over the other, then make it shot stopping.

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Yep. You wear the gloves on your hands, not on your feet.

Well. Onana is gone. I'm done talking about him. Let's talk about what we do have. Not surprisingly, Bayindir will start the weekend. Hopefully, Lammens is as good as advertised and he takes over quickly. Because this stat dropped today.

Altay Bayındır has made an error leading to goal every 430 minutes on average since the start of last season, the worst rate of any goalkeeper in the Premier League.

Stick or twist ahead of the Manchester Derby? 🤔 pic.twitter.com/PubunktUEi

— Statman Dave (@StatmanDave) September 12, 2025

I'll say it. Bayindir shouldn't be in goal. Period. End stop.

A GK doesn't need to train for weeks with his new team to play GK and stop shots. Just put the new guy out there.

Dre_00 said:

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No Mount, Cunha, or Dalot for the game on Sunday. That probably confirms at least 9 of the starters (Amad at RB at Bruno next to Mbeumo in attacking mid). I'm guessing Sesko starts but wouldn't be shocked if it was Zirkzee (not like Sesko trained with the team during the break). Would be a crime if Mainoo didn't start in midfield but I wouldn't put it past Amorim to put Casemiro and Ugarte in at midfield against a team that's better than his.

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Playing Ugarte is begging for City to nick easy opportunities off turnovers

personally, I am with you. I think if you bring in guys to be number 1 at their spot then you should just start them straight away. I thought the same with Sesko. But, Amorim seems to think differently.

As far as I know Donnarumma will be between the posts for Man Dhabi.