Man United's Senne Lammens responds to Peter Schmeichel's jibe the club had bought the WRONG goalkeeper - and reveals why he is 'happy to be seen as boring'

Senne Lammens says he wants to be a Manchester United goalkeeping great like Peter Schmeichel, and joked about the fact the Danish legend didn’t know who he was following a £21.7million move from Royal Antwerp.

United fans sang ‘Are you Schmeichel in disguise?’ when Lammens made his debut against Sunderland at Old Trafford earlier this month, and the young Belgian has won his first three games between the posts.

However, Schmeichel admitted he hadn’t heard of Lammens, and claimed that United should have signed Aston Villa ’s Emiliano Martinez instead or competed with Manchester City for Gianluigi Donnarumma.

The 23-year-old was able to see the funny side when asked what he said to Schmeichel at their first meeting. ‘Weren’t you the one who said they should have bought Donnarumma or Martinez?’ he said. ‘No, not really. It makes sense that he also had reservations. When I signed, he simply didn’t know me yet. I don’t think he had watched many Antwerp matches.

‘During one of the first matches he came to the sidelines for a little chat. He was very friendly. He tried to make me feel at ease, said I just had to do my thing and give confidence to my defence.’

Lammens, who acknowledged the comparisons with another former United keeper, Edwin van der Sar, because he is ‘also very down to earth and calm’, isn’t getting carried away with the flying start or the Schmeichel chant.

United fans sang ‘Are you Schmeichel in disguise?’ when Senne Lammens made his debut against Sunderland, and the young Belgian has won his first three games between the posts

Schmeichel claimed that United should have signed Aston Villa’s Emiliano Martinez or competed with Man City for Gianluigi Donnarumma when they first signed Lammens

‘That’s England for you. If things go badly, they can bury you deep, but if things go well, they praise you to the skies,’ he added.

‘I take that with a grain of salt, because to be mentioned in the same sentence as Schmeichel, I’m going to have to prove myself many more times. But I did find it a very nice compliment.

‘I hope to play here for 10 years and be important, so that, like Schmeichel and Van der Sar, I can leave a legacy.’

In an interview with Nieuwsblad, Lammens opened up on his ‘crazy’ transfer to United, the risk he took in joining a big club that had just endured its worst season in more than half a century, and getting used to the ‘war’ goalkeepers face on set-pieces in the Premier League .

The former Club Brugge player understands why people weren’t sure if he would be an immediate replacement for Andre Onana having only had one full season as No.1 at Antwerp and is yet to make his senior international debut for Belgium.

‘I know that in England, there is a lot more talk about football than in our country – and they only paid €20 million for me, you know,’ said Lammens.

‘In Belgium, that’s a huge amount of money, but here it’s not a “wow” figure, which made people unsure whether I was truly a first-choice goalkeeper or more of a future option. That’s why it was so important to make a good impression in my first match.

‘Ultimately, every transfer carries risk. A lot of people thought that way, and I also thought so for a moment. But I saw this just as the perfect opportunity, because since the team hadn’t had a top season, I might get to play sooner.

Lammens (pictured) said playing for the Premier League giants was a 'dream come true'

‘How things turned out ended up being perfect. The first few weeks were hard to adjust, but little by little I was able to settle in and then got my chance.

‘Three matches are not enough to dispel all doubts, right, so I try to continue this momentum even though I'm not really concerned with what others think of me.’

Mature beyond his years and known for being very grounded, Lammens is happy to be portrayed as rather boring – in contrast to Onana and some of United’s more flamboyant goalkeepers down the years .

‘I realise that I come across as boring to the outside world. But that’s exactly the kind of goalkeeper I want to be: someone who is steadfast and doesn’t get carried away by the highs and lows.’

Asked if United also want him to stay that way, he replied: ‘Exactly. Over the years, they have seen goalkeepers and players come and go who were anything but boring, but that also had consequences on the field. For the fans, I am a nice change.’

Lammens sought advice from his Belgian compatriots Thibaut Courtois and Matz Sels about life in the Premier League. Courtois starred for Chelsea, while Sels will be in the opposite goal when United play Nottingham Forest at the City Ground on Saturday.

‘We’ve talked about that switch to English football before, and they had warned me about it. What happens here on set-pieces, I have never experienced before,’ said Lammens.

‘It is really war in the small back line. They hold you, they throw you down, they do all kinds of things, but the referees let play continue.

The United players have heaped praise on Lammens for his performances against Sunderland, Liverpool and Brighton, which the 23-year-old described as 'the most beautiful thing'

‘It's a day-and-night difference from Belgian football, where any minor contact is whistled. So you have to adapt and train for it every week, because all teams try to take advantage of it – we do too.’

Lammens is settling in on and off the pitch after moving into his own house. ‘The first two weeks I stayed in a hotel downtown, but that wasn’t really my thing. I prefer to be at ease, so now I live like most of my teammates in a suburb, more in nature.

‘My girlfriend is still studying in Antwerp, which makes it difficult to be together often. But she tries to visit as much as possible, and the same goes for my family and friends. Fortunately, there is always someone here every week.’

The United players have heaped praise on Lammens for his performances against Sunderland, Liverpool and Brighton. ‘That is the most beautiful thing that has ever happened to me here,’ he said. ‘You are playing with men who have a lot of experience, with big names that you have admired yourself for years. That they then show that they believe in you really means something to me.

‘I was a bit nervous, because I thought “the higher you play, the more everyone is focused on themselves” but that is totally not the case here. Everyone immediately made me feel comfortable with Bruno Fernandes, our captain, leading the way.

‘When you arrive here, your eyes really open wide. Especially if you suddenly find yourself between the posts at Old Trafford, one of the biggest stadiums in the world.

‘This is a dream coming true. It’s almost unbelievable. The transfer was already crazy, but that I’m now firmly in goal, that’s something extra.’