LAMMENS TO THE SLAUGHTER

United fans pray young Belgian keeper punt will pay out

- KIERAN CUNNINGHAM

BELGIUM boss Rudi Garcia seems to be a belt and braces kind of manager.

That is one conclusion to be drawn from the squad he picked for their recent games with Liechtenstein and Kazakhstan.

The initial squad chosen by Garcia contained four goalkeepers. Unless there's a virus that targets 'keepers, it's hard to understand Garcia's thinking.

But one thing we learned was how far down the pecking order Senne Lammens is. At best, he's Belgium's fifth choice goalkeeper.

Yet he is the man Ruben Amorim is about to instal as Manchester United's number one.

André Onana played in the Champions League final for Inter Milan just two years ago but Amorim (right) quickly lost faith in him last season.

He is now set for a loan spell with Trabzonspor in Turkey.

In this campaign, Amorim has turned to Altay Bayindir, but he has been error prone in game after game.

Will he keep faith with him for Sunday's Manchester derby or throw Belgium's fifth choice in at the deep end? The other alternative is 39-year-old Tom Heaton, who last played in the Premier League in January, 2020.

Go through United's back pages and outstanding goalkeepers like Harry Gregg, Alex Stepney, Peter Schmeichel and Edwin van der Sar have played a massive part in many of their greatest triumphs.

But Old Trafford has also proved to be a graveyard for a long list of 'keepers.

In his first autobiography in 2002, Roy Keane recalled one of his worst nights in a Manchester United shirt.