Peter Schmeichel has revealed he spent more than a year trying to convince one of the Premier League’s biggest names to sign for Manchester United.
Manchester United ended their 2025 summer transfer window by signing Royal Antwerp goalkeeper Senne Lammens for £18 million, with the Belgian talent seen as one of Europe’s brightest young prospects.
The club’s overall spend comes to around £215 million, a figure that could climb past £240 million once all bonuses are accounted for.
Lammens was joined by attacking recruits Matheus Cunha, Bryan Mbeumo, and Benjamin Šeško, while 18-year-old left-back Diego Leon arrived earlier in July.
Exits included Jadon Sancho, Marcus Rashford, and Antony, though the headline departure was Alejandro Garnacho’s £40 million move to Chelsea.
Schmeichel failed to convince Donnarumma
While Lammens has been brought in with the hope that he can grow into becoming United’s first-choice goalkeeper for years to come, some expressed the opinion that the club should have gone for a more experienced and ready-made shot-stopper.
Champions League hero Gianluigi Donnarumma was on the market after being ousted from Paris Saint-Germain. Although United were linked, they opted against signing the Italian international, who went on to sign for Manchester City instead.
This is much to the disappointment of former United goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel, who admitted that he had spent over a year trying to convince the Italian to join the Old Trafford club.
While on CBS Sports, former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher spoke to Schmeichel about said talks. “You seem a little bit offended by the fact that PSG have let Donnarumma go,” Carragher said.
“Are you sure you shouldn’t be offended with what you’ve done yourself in the last 12 months? You’ve basically tried to get him to Manchester United, you’ve been talking to him at every opportunity, and you’ve failed!”
In reply, Schmeichel laughed, then replied, “And that’s why I’m not an agent. I have been talking to him for, yeah, actually more than a year, and I pulled him and I said, ‘I asked you to come to Man United, you’re in the wrong club here’, and all he said was, ‘I am happy’.”
Would Donnarumma have been a better option for United?
Donnarumma made his debut for City in a 3-0 demolition of United, where the 26-year-old showed himself to be a player comfortable in dealing with set-pieces and great at parrying the ball away from goal, which are traits United have desperately missed in their recent goalkeepers.
While Lammens is a very talented young goalkeeper, there is certainly an argument to be made that Donnarumma, who was “colossal” against United, could have been the much safer option for the Reds in signing a shot-stopper who would guarantee them much more authority in their back line.
United’s goalkeeper struggles have been a part of the club since the turn of the decade, with David de Gea’s declining performances matched by the failings of Altay Bayındır and André Onana.
With the Chelsea fixture looming for Amorim, it will be interesting to see whether he sticks with what he knows in Baynidir or opts to hand Lammens his debut in Red in the hope the latter will be able to instil confidence into a back line that was torn apart by City’s attack last weekend.
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