Archive September 2, 2025

Manchester United’s decision to pay £18. M for 23-year-old goalkeeper Senne Lammens has a strong influence on “Project 150.”

In September 2024, chief executive Omar Berrada first outlined the plan to aim for the Premier League title in 2028, the year the organization celebrated its 150th anniversary.

In an interview with the reputable United We Stand fanzine in June of this year, Berrada reaffirmed his position, “Why not aim for it”?

The decision was made less than 12 hours before the transfer window was closed in keeping with the overall plan for a better future.

Instead of requesting Emiliano Martinez to lead the M6, which United had hoped would take place almost as soon as the season ended, United instructed Lammens to board a private jet and travel to Manchester.

Sources claim that the issue was simple.

Firstly, United is aware that after the 2024-2005 fiasco, significant improvement is required this season. However, Berrada and the club’s owners are pursuing a bigger goal with “Project 150.”

Martinez is respected by United. They accept that the international from Argentina has Premier League credentials.

He won the World Cup and has competed at the highest levels. He made more errors leading to shots last season (6) than Andre Onana of United, which is unfortunate.

Even head coach Ruben Amorim says: “It’s difficult to be a Manchester United goalkeeper at this time. But Martinez has the personality to deal with that.”

Lammens is on the opposite end of the scale for experience. The 6’4″ stopper has made 93 appearances for the Belgian Pro League, of which only 52 have been made.

In November 2023, Royal Antwerp defeated Porto 2-0 to claim his only Champions League victory. He has yet to receive a full cap despite being first chosen for the Belgium senior squad in March.

However, United pointed to someone who merited closer scrutiny, which minority owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe has been working hard to improve.

According to club sources, Lammens ranks highly in key metrics like claimed crosses, shot stopping, preventing goals from rebounds and mistakes, or rather the lack of them.

They claim Lammens also recorded the most “progressive” passes for any goalkeeper under the age of 23 and that he saved more saves than any other goalkeeper in Europe’s top 10 leagues.

Director of football Jason Wilcox stated that Lammens was the subject of “significant interest from a number of clubs” in the statement confirming his arrival.

Crucially, Lammens will be 26 when United reach Berrada’s “Project 150” point, and he should be in his prime. Martinez will have 35 .

Ollie Watkins and Benjamin Sesko, two other Aston Villa players, presented a similar challenge to the Old Trafford hierarchy, it might be argued. They selected Sesko.

The difference is that United had already selected two Premier League players with “oast ready” in Matheus Cunha and Bryan Mbeumo for their attacking zone prioritizing this summer.

After the final few days of the deal-making process began to take shape, they made the decision to add Altay Bayindir and Andre Onana to their goalkeeping lineup at the expense of strengthening their midfield.

Lammens was not a recent addition to United’s radar. They spoke to Royal Antwerp earlier this summer after being first connected with him last season.

From that point on, the Belgian was eager to make the move. The clubs’ negotiations broke out again in the middle of last week, and a deal was struck that was activated on Monday morning.

United is aware of the risk involved.

While Onana or Bayindir could still be sold to clubs in the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, Greece, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and other countries, the specifics of who will be Amorim’s first-choice goalkeeper are unknown.

Lammens makes strong recommendations, aside from the data.

One of Belgium’s best keepers, Thibaut Courtois, gives him a high recommendation. Former Club Brugge team-mate Simon Mignolet is also in the same boat.

His greatest strength is his shot stopping, according to HLN. Axel Brisart, a reporter for BE’s Royal Antwerp, is here.

He “has great reflexes on the line” and made some excellent saves.

He likes to play ball and is very proactive. Any team looking to add some tempo to their play can use him with great feet and his passing as a big help.

Sesko’s 90-minute appearance at Grimsby in the EFL Cup, which left him with severe cramp at the end of the match, has been made a part of his new life at Old Trafford with a few substitute appearances in the Premier League.

Lammens cannot be treated similarly by Amorim. United won’t play a cup game until January because of that shocking defeat at Blundell Park.

Although the Belgian excels in terms of data, it is crucial to consider both his strengths and weaknesses in terms of perspective.

The 23-year-old has an intimidating frame and is primarily a shot stopper, tall at 6 feet 4 inches tall.

Last year, he recorded the most saves of any keeper in Europe’s top 10 leagues (173) and at an 80% save rate. In goals prevented last season, he was also second only to Anderlecht’s Colin Coosemans.

He frequently anticipates the direction of shots using good footwork, allowing him to position himself behind the ball’s trajectory to catch it.

He advances before holding his position in one-on-one situations, reducing the angle for his or her foes who are dangerously shooting. Given how wide he spreads himself and how frequently he uses his feet to make saves, he is more prone to conceding from quickly taken shots, but his approach is fairly successful in smothering chances.

His crosses stopped percentage, which is the highest in Europe for the past year, is 13.2%.

However, it’s interesting to watch his work at corners and crosses. Lammens is eager to take the ball in an aerial assault. When they are floated high and in unison, he can catch a lot of them because of this.

He ends up stepping out in situations where he is less likely to win the ball, leading to corners scrambles, because he is being proactive. He will need to strike a balance between these two.

His proactivity and confidence are positive traits. His men should benefit Amorim’s men as well as his ability to reduce his opponent’s shooting angles in one-on-one situations.

“Until the very end,”

Before a draining window at Newcastle United finally closed, this was the mantra behind the scenes.

And with good reason.

The result of Newcastle’s sale of Alexander Isak to Liverpool for a record-breaking £125 million and the signing of Yoane Wissa from Brentford was a breathless finale, which proved to be so.

Newcastle’s signing of a dependable Premier League player in Wissa relieves fans on Tyneside, who has never played for a club outside of Germany.

But, after holding firm for so long, Newcastle have also lost one of the best strikers in the world to the champions on deadline day.

When Isak was bouncing up and down in a celebratory huddle at St James’ Park after Newcastle won qualification on the final day of last season, it seemed like an unthinkable prospect for outsiders.

Of course, losing Isak was never in the original plan.

Instead of selling their best player to a team they defeated in the Carabao Cup final back in March, Newcastle wants to one day compete with Liverpool for the biggest trophies.

In a statement, last month, Newcastle did not even foresee the conditions of sale being met as the saga dragged on weeks after Liverpool’s opening £110m bid was rejected.

This player had three years left on his contract, but giving in on the last day could have set a precedent.

The club was already in the dark due to Isak’s absence. Could the wantaway Swede really have been reintegrated if he did not get the move he desired in the final throes of the window? Was there a chance that if he remained unmoved, his value would only decline further?

After the 25-year-old sat out the campaign’s first few weeks and made an explosive statement that “change is in the best interests of everyone,” it seemed like there would be a long way back for Isak with the fanbase.

It was just last week that Newcastle fan Ian Cuthbertson vowed he would “never accept him again” while Mal Colledge said the “whole thing just leaves a sour taste”.

Suzanna Armstrong, a fellow supporter, said, “No one is irreplaceable.”

However, Debra Woodall acknowledged that it would be “hard to replace him” as Isak helped Newcastle end a 70-year wait for a significant domestic trophy wearing a commemorative home shirt.

“Hopefully they find someone who puts the ball in the back of the net”, she said.

No one scored more non-penalty goals in the Premier League last season than Wissa, and the club believes Woltemade’s qualities will help them reach the top flight in the future.

After Brentford rejected two previous bids, Newcastle’s interest in Wissa was well documented, so sources close to the deal even disputed that it was taking place last week.

They said that Stuttgart would not sell – regardless of the buying club – following Bayern Munich’s previous failed pursuit.

For context, Woltemade’s flight from Stuttgart to Tyneside for his medical was scheduled at the time.

In contrast to well-known bids for Hugo Ekitike, Benjamin Sesko, and Joao Pedro, Newcastle had acted so quickly and secretly that details only eventually surfaced after the deal was done.

From the outside, the £69m move happened rapidly. Even the participants even described it as being “very quick.” Following a string of setbacks in his search for a center-forward, head coach Eddie Howe had been anticipating this for a while.

“Although it seems quick to you guys, it’s not quick to us”, Howe said. Because you are in other people’s hands, it’s labored and slow.

That expression could just as easily have been used to describe the entire window.

Howe had previously labelled last summer as the most difficult of his career after Newcastle struggled to make a major signing and dashed to sell Elliot Anderson and Yankuba Minteh to avoid a breach of profit and sustainability rules (PSR).

Newcastle had set out to do business early.

However, it came to the point where they could have assembled a formidable five-a-side team of adversaries.

For instance, James Trafford, according to what it is known, was “super excited” about joining Newcastle before the negotiations with Burnley stalled over the fee.

Manchester City went on to activate their buyback clause and matched Newcastle’s offer for their former goalkeeper, who chose to return to Etihad Stadium.

A new theme started to emerge.

Even though Benjamin Sesko’s camp described Newcastle as a “great club with great people” and said they were “a great club with great people,” those closest to the striker previously did not believe it was the “right time” to relocate to St James’ Park when the club first expressed an interest in the club in 2022.

History repeated itself once again last month when Sesko opted to join what he called a “historical club” in Manchester United.

Of course, Newcastle has its own tradition, but in the first few months of the window, they had a difficult time challenging the established order for such players.

These clubs have higher income streams than their predecessors, according to Joao Pedro, who was also a target when he watched Chelsea win titles growing up.

Manchester United (£364.7m) and Chelsea (£337.8m) were among five Premier League sides who splashed out more on salaries than Newcastle generated in revenue (£320.3m) in their most recently published accounts from 2023-24.

In the same time period, Newcastle’s wage bill was eighth highest, and the club became even more determined to sign players who were “desperate” to move after a number of setbacks this summer.

Dan Burn, Kieran Trippier, and Bruno Guimaraes, who were the club’s most successful signings under Howe, were praised for their fitting roles when they arrived at the club in deep relegation trouble in 2022.

Three of Newcastle’s most expensive additions this summer – Woltemade, Wissa and Anthony Elanga – did not think twice once they learned of the club’s interest.

Malick Thiaw also didn’t need much convincing to leave AC Milan for Newcastle.

Before his £35 million move to Germany was approved, Thiaw was a few weeks into a training camp in the Lake District when the topic of Newcastle emerged.

Paul Winsper, a high performance consultant, who previously worked for Newcastle, was on hand to offer his thoughts.

“We all resided in the same house,” said Winsper. Come on, we joked about it. Join Newcastle! ‘

He inquired, “What’s it like?” I said, “Astonished.”

“I lived in the US for 16 years and I had always had this yearning to come back to the North East and be back in my roots.

This was one of a series of deals Newcastle agreed without a sporting director or CEO.

CEO Darren Eales gave his notice last autumn after being diagnosed with a persistent form of blood cancer, while sporting director Paul Mitchell left the club in June.

So it was up to co-owner Jamie Reuben and assistant head of recruitment Andy Howe to assume additional responsibilities.

Given the upheaval at boardroom level, and the challenging start to the window, recruiting six first-team players felt like a distant prospect at one point.

And Eddie Howe was the first to acknowledge that Newcastle made the most of the situation by avoiding a sporting director and CEO.

In the upcoming windows, filling these positions will be crucial, and Newcastle intends to do so. They have already hired Sudarshan Gopaladesikan, who will report to Mitchell’s replacement and head the club’s football data operations.

Mitchell’s assertion that Newcastle’s recruitment processes were” not fit for purpose “understandably dominated headlines a year ago, but he also made a nuanced point about how clubs who were even more data-informed prospered last summer.

Newcastle did not want to lose their director of football intelligence, and it is understood that the club’s pursuit of Gopaladesikan began last fall.

However, it was quite interesting that Newcastle were willing to wait until July to find a “technical director,” as stated by Playermaker’s vice-president of sports performance Steve Barrett.

” He’s one of the smartest people I’ve ever met, “Barrett said”. His game is always piqued by his enthusiasm and enthusiasm. He perfectly embodies what Newcastle stands for.

Gopaladesikan is only in his early thirties, but the American mathematician has already had spells at Atalanta and Benfica, and he also worked with Real Madrid and Borussia Dortmund during his time as a product manager at Microsoft.

This seems like a timely appointment given the fierce competition Newcastle faced for top targets, even though Gopaladesikan’s extensive role will only be one thing.

Where does Newcastle move forward with this summer, then?

That question will be answered on the field in the coming weeks and months as Howe’s side attempt to fight on four fronts following the additions of Woltemade, Wissa, Elanga, Thiaw, Jacob Ramsey and Aaron Ramsdale.

But what about off-it?

Football finance expert Kieran Maguire compared the sale of Isak to the £100 million deal that Aston Villa purchased from Manchester City in 2021 for Jack Grealish.

” Newcastle were out of the woods from a PSR point of view, but this will certainly help them satisfy the Uefa squad cost rules because player sale profits go into the equation when you’re working out your 70% wages-to-revenue line, “Maguire said”. They will be able to make wise reinvestments.

They won’t have that much financial freedom when they were forced to use a few windows to do nothing for a few months. You don’t want that repeating, especially when the club are ambitious and aspirational”.

A group of former Premier League footballers say they lost tens of millions of pounds because of their financial advisers.

The V11 campaign group, which includes 11 footballers who made investments with Kingsbridge Asset Management in the 1990s and 2000s, includes Danny Murphy, Michael Thomas, and Rod Wallace.

Former England international Murphy, who is now a Match of the Day pundit, believes he was victim of “financial abuse” and lost roughly £5 million.

David McKee and Kevin McMenamin, who ran Kingsbridge, say they “deny any wrongdoing”.

Kingsbridge always gave sound advice and clearly defined the risks and opportunities, both before and after any investment agreement, they told the BBC.

Up to 200 footballers may have been affected, with some going bankrupt and losing their homes.

The V11 group also includes Brian Deane.

He scored the first Premier League goal in 1992. With the introduction of new players and increased player wealth, a new era of the game was born.

Deane, who like many others hoped the investments would secure his financial future, said, “We should have felt protected.”

“Kingsbridge seemed to be in line with what everybody wanted at the time, which was to have somebody looking after your finances for when you finished playing”.

McKee and McMenamin founded Kingsbridge Asset Management in Nottingham the year the Premier League was playing.

More than 360 footballers were among its clientele on its website.

“If they got the most influential person in the changing room, you thought you were in a safe place”, said Deane.

Former Aston Villa and Celtic striker Tommy Johnson was introduced to Kingsbridge by his agent.

He claimed that many of the Villa players’ advisers were his financial advisers.

Johnson went on holiday with McKee and McMenamin, and they were even guests at his wedding.

He said, “People will turn around and say they are just financial advisers.” They were friends, not enemies. These guys have ruined our lives”.

“We were honored during our careers to have been trusted by [our] clients… that trust was never betrayed,” McKee and McMenamin told the BBC.

Through its partnership with the League Managers Association, the business gained credibility.

Wallace became Leeds ‘ record signing in the summer of 1991.

Knowing that managers were involved was one of the biggest benefits for us, he said.

“My wife and I wanted to start a family,” my wife said. It was just a natural thing really, just go with them”.

Wallace only discovered something wrong with his investments in 2008 when he made the discovery. His net worth was reportedly $1. 9 million. By February 2024, he was declared bankrupt.

He said, “We live in Surrey.” It’s been a nice place to live, but we’re currently being forced to move because there’s no money in the bank. We won’t have anywhere to live”.

Wallace owned shares in Kingsbridge, too.

He claimed that this was his first stock purchase. “I was just told that they bombed. I’m just gone.

Additionally, Wilkinson held shares.

Yet a letter seen by the BBC suggests he was paid £2, 033 a month for four years by Kingsbridge, in “recognition of the fact” he kept his shares “solely]in] the best interest of the LMA’s business partnership with Kingsbridge”, even as they lost value.

According to the LMA, “Any agreement between David McKee and Howard Wilkinson was a personal agreement… to which the LMA was not a party.”

According to McKee and McMenamin, “Howard Wilkinson never referred business to us or introduced a client.”

In an effort to boost the UK film industry, the Treasury introduced a tax relief in 1997 for investments in domestic films.

“What the government didn’t envisage was the tax advantages would be abused and turned into a financial product”, said investment fraud lawyer Ben Rees.

Kingsbridge advised clients to use their own money and bank loans to finance movies.

Wallace invested more than £2 million into the sector.

Players were then encouraged to invest in property with a 40% tax rebate, that did not need to be repaid for 15 years.

In a Monte Resina development in Spain, four members of the V11 group purchased apartments for 618, 500 euros.

According to Deane, “They brought it to me and the other guys thought it was a very exclusive development that was just too good to miss.”

However, documents seen by the BBC show McKee and McMenamin originally owned the apartments and instructed a company – run by McKee’s wife – to manage them.

Investigative journalist Richard Belfield remarked, “Talk about a conflict of interest.”

Craig Short, a former Derby County and Everton defender, was advised to invest in a Charlotte Harbor development in Florida.

He claimed that “the first property had no value whatsoever.”

“I had a huge mortgage on it which I just couldn’t afford. I decided to walk away and return the keys as soon as possible.

Many of the investments had decreased, leaving players unable to pay the tax bills as HMRC eventually chased the tax owed from the film schemes.

Rees was introduced to the V11 group through a charity.

Rees said, “I think every professional adviser makes mistakes, but the volume and consistency of these complex, high-risk, and unregulated investments were just completely inappropriate for young, naive, kind of financially inexperienced footballers.”

The advisory firm itself has an interest in the projects or is involved in them in some way, the advisory firm says, “so that’s not a mistake when you start seeing the investments.”

McKee and McMenamin said in their statement to the BBC: “Film schemes attracted huge support from all areas of the financial services industry.

Any losses suffered by clients are deeply regrettable but were caused by HMRC policy changes and the collapse of the global real estate market in 2008.

After Andy Burnham, the current mayor of Greater Manchester, referred the matter to them in 2018, City of London Police opened an investigation.

Two men from the East Midlands were arrested.

The investigation was ended two years later, however, with the police determining there was “insufficient evidence to support a realistic chance of conviction.”

According to City of London Police, “the decision was made at the commander level and… an external force senior officer also supported the decision.”

More than £1 million in tax is paid by each V11 group member on average.

Former Fulham midfielder Sean Davis owes £330, 000 and now works as a painter and decorator.

He said, “It was a shock when I started getting the brown letters through the door.”

“I’m at my happiest when I’ve had a drink because you kind of forget about it,” I said. But then when I wake up the next day that’s when I’m at my worst. I sarcastically want to commit suicide.

Thomas, in contrast, claimed he was “living like a clown.”

“All fun on the outside – laughing and joking – but every day I think about a lot of things… and I’m one of the lucky ones”, said the former Arsenal and Liverpool midfielder.

Although it’s difficult to speak out in public, I thought, “I have to speak out for people who are suffering in silence.”

His tax liability was revealed to be £1.6 million when the brown envelopes arrived at Short’s door.

He received a bankruptcy petition on Christmas Eve, and bailiffs turned up at the training ground of Oxford United, where he works as a coach.

He said, “I have frequent episodes of depression, sadness, and anger.” I have nothing to give them, so HMRC will probably enforce.”

In a statement, HMRC said: “We have a duty to collect tax when it is legally due.

The V11 campaign group was assembled by Short’s wife Carly Barnes-Short – a solicitor and former criminal defence lawyer.

She said, “We have team captains, Premier League title holders, Champions League winners, FA Cup winners, and other names.” This group of players has achieved tremendous success.

Her aim, together with the 11 retired footballers – not all of whom wanted to go on the record about their experiences – is to change the law to protect victims of crime from serious tax charges.

“It goes back to what we did as players,” Deane remarked. We were a team, and that is where we have developed our strength.

” It’s definitely saved lives, “said Murphy, who won the Uefa Cup, FA Cup and EFL Cup with Liverpool.

I don’t know where I would be right now if it weren’t for the group.

Davis was one of the many former football players who kept his financial issues a secret before joining the group.

The possibility of changing the law encouraged him to speak about them publicly for the first time.

Davis said, “I don’t want to be saying all this and then there won’t be any change.”

That would be worse, and it would be like losing once more.