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‘Panic buy’ – Wayne Rooney questions Manchester United’s decision to sign Senne Lammens

Wayne Rooney has questioned Manchester United’s decision to sign Senne Lammens on the transfer deadline day.

United slumped to a humiliating 3-0 loss to Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday, with Erling Haaland netting a brace and Phil Foden also scoring.

The latest derby defeat means the Red Devils have registered only four points from their opening four Premier League fixtures and are currently sitting 14th in the table.

United legend Rooney was disappointed by his former club’s display and questioned why they did not sign Gianluigi Donnarumma in the summer.

Donnarumma was linked with a move to Old Trafford but ended up joining City from Paris Saint-Germain.

Manager Pep Guardiola handed the 26-year-old his debut and he impressed with his display in the derby win.

Meanwhile, Ruben Amorim continued with Altay Bayindir in goal, opting against starting new signing Lammens.

Rooney expressed concern that Amorim did not feel able to feature Lammens straight in and questioned whether the Belgian was a ‘panic buy’.

‘That was a worry as well… you don’t know if that was a panic buy,’ Rooney said on his BBC podcast.

‘I’ll be honest I don’t know too much about the new goalkeeper, I don’t think many of us have seen much about him. I’ll obviously do some research and have a look.

‘But if you’re buying a new goalkeeper and he’s not ready to come in that’s a bit of a concern.

‘Obviously Donnarumma comes straight in and keeps a clean sheet. That’s the big difference and that was my point after the first game of the season when I said United should go and get Donnarumma.

‘Whether financially they could or he didn’t want to come on we don’t know but we’ve signed a new goalkeeper on potential, we’ve needed up with another project, and that’s always a bit of a risk.’

INEOS backed Amorim heavily in the summer transfer market, making funds available for the signings of three top quality attackers and a goalkeeper.

But the 40-year-old has completely failed to deliver results so far, with the team sitting in 14th in the Premier League and already out of the Carabao Cup.

Amorim will be under huge pressure ahead of the crucial home fixture against Chelsea at the weekend.

If United lose again, the hierarchy could decide to pull the plug on the Portuguese boss.