MARK BOSNICH: Senne Lammens reminds me of Edwin van der Sar and Peter Schmeichel - he's got it all and can lead Manchester United to a title

On the edge of Darling Harbour, a new waterfront precinct called Barangaroo has sprung up in the last decade, transformed from a disused container terminal into a gleaming hub of top of the range hotels and fine restaurants.

Mark Bosnich is sitting on the patio of one of them, enthusing about the regeneration of this part of his home city. Regeneration and renewal, in fact, are themes he keeps returning to, especially when he starts to talk about Manchester United .

Bosnich, a generous, effusive man who exudes bonhomie, lives in an apartment nearby with his wife and two children and has forged a successful broadcasting career as a respected analyst for Stan Sport and Channel 9 that has allowed him to study the struggles of his former club with dismay that is turning to hope.

Bosnich was handed what many would consider to be one of the great hospital passes in modern English football when Sir Alex Ferguson signed him to replace Peter Schmeichel as United’s goalkeeper after the club had won the Treble in 1998-99.

Schmeichel left that summer to play for Sporting Lisbon and Bosnich arrived from a highly successful spell with Aston Villa to try to fill the gap left by the man many still consider United’s greatest ever keeper.

Bosnich played 23 league games in the 1999-2000 season that United dominated so completely that they won the title by 18 points from their nearest challengers, Arsenal . He was also between the posts when United became the first English team to win the Intercontinental Cup in 1999.

Sir Alex Ferguson signed Bosnich to replace Peter Schmeichel as United’s goalkeeper after the club had won the Treble in 1998-99, what many would consider a great hospital pass in football

Bosnich played 23 league games in the 1999-2000 season that United dominated so completely that they won the title by 18 points from their nearest challengers, Arsenal

Bosnich, who has forged a successful broadcasting career in Australia as a respected analyst for Stan Sport and Channel 9, with his former United team-mate Dwight Yorke last year

But injuries derailed his season and the goalkeeping situation at United became confused. Ferguson signed Massimo Taibi, whose name became synonymous with one of football’s most famous clangers when he allowed a tame shot from Matt Le Tissier to squirm through his legs.

‘Massimo wasn’t ready,’ Bosnich says. ‘He shouldn’t have been thrust into that situation. But he was a lovely man. A lovely, lovely man. We went out after the Intercontinental Cup final and he was great. He was so happy for me that I played so well. Really, really nice man. If I saw him now, I’d give him a big hug.’

Ferguson signed Fabien Barthez in the summer of 2000 and Bosnich did not play another game for the club before signing for Chelsea in January 2001. It was not until Edwin van der Sar arrived in June 2005 that United found a proper solution to their goalkeeping issues.

‘It was an honour and a privilege for me to play for United and for Sir Alex,’ Bosnich says. ‘I won two winners’ medals in one season and I considered it a great thing to follow someone like Peter. Injuries didn’t help me but you want to put yourself up against the very best and I was very lucky to be part of a great side.’

United have been plagued by another period of uncertainty with the goalkeeping position in recent years that has been one of the factors undermining their fraught attempts to recover the dominance in English football they lost when Ferguson retired in 2013.

Andre Onana was signed to replace David de Gea but was dogged by a catalogue of errors and never seemed able to reproduce the form or the poise that persuaded United to sign him from Inter Milan. Neither Dean Henderson nor Altay Bayandir were able to stake their claim.

But Bosnich, 53, believes that Senne Lammens, the Belgium keeper signed from Royal Antwerp for £18m on in the last transfer window, will become a legitimate successor to Schmeichel and a player who will be the foundation for a first league title since Ferguson’s departure.

‘Playing in the Premier League catches a lot of foreign keepers out when they first arrive,’ Bosnich says. ‘It’s completely different. It's the fastest, it's the most intense, it’s the most difficult in terms of the aerial challenge. And you don’t get the protection from referees that you do on the continent.

Ferguson brought Fabien Barthez to United in the summer of 2000 and Bosnich did not play another game for the club before leaving for Chelsea in January 2001 on a free transfer

Edwin van der Sar's arrival in 2005 finally solved Manchester United's goalkeeping issues

‘But Lammens has been outstanding since he arrived. Look, Peter and Edwin, they had their tough moments, as you do over a period of time. But they backed up their talent with a series of outstanding performances and I believe Lammens is already showing that he has that kind of talent, too.

‘Onana was excellent at Inter. They had just got to the Champions League final with Inter. They might have won it if Romelu Lukaku had taken that chance for an equaliser late on. But he also had brilliant defenders in front of him there. He was very, very well protected.

‘And then he came to United and he didn’t have that situation in front of him and he wasn’t as well protected and you have the combative style of the Premier League and Onana struggled to assert himself.

‘I don’t see Lammens having those problems. He’s only 23 but he’s already proved he can deal with whatever’s thrown at him. He’s very, very good with his feet. He reminds me a bit of Thibault Courtois, who’s Belgian as well, of course. He has settled in very quickly.

‘He’s young but I think United have got their long-term keeper now. He’s already adjusted to the pace and dynamic nature of the English game. The fact that there’s a precedent for him, that Courtois succeeded at Chelsea, is going to be important, too.’

United began the season with their goalkeeping situation still mired in uncertainty. Onana struggled with injury during the close season so Altay Bayindir played in United’s opening game against Arsenal and was criticised for the way he failed to deal with a corner that led to the only goal of the game.

Onana moved on a season-long loan to Turkish club Trabzonspor but Bayindir failed to seize his opportunity and United’s beleaguered boss Ruben Amorim gave Lammens his debut against Sunderland at the beginning of October. He kept a clean sheet and has played as if he was born to be United’s number one.

‘His shot-stopping is good and he is good on the ball,’ Bosnich says. ‘But I think this is the key: there is a lot of talk now about how important set-plays have become in the Premier League and that means it is equally important that you have a goalkeeper who is not intimidated by set-plays.

Bosnich has so far been impressed by 23-year-old Senne Lammens, who joined United this the summer, saying: '‘The thing I really like about Lammens is that he dominates his box.'

‘The board stuck by Sir Alex and the current board has to stick by Amorim,' Bosnich added

‘The thing I really like about Lammens is that he dominates his box. Going way back, Bruce Grobbelaar was exceptional at doing that in those great Liverpool sides of the 1980s and Schmeichel was, too.

‘It’s so important for a keeper to have that quality because it inspires confidence in the entire defence. If you know he is going to come, that creates certainty in a defence. It lifts the performance of the entire back four. It even spreads confidence in the crowd and that can transmit itself to the players.

‘These days, defenders don’t mind anything on the ground. That’s what they’re built for. That’s what they’re equipped for. Defenders are skilful and they are quick. But it’s when teams start playing high balls in that it gets difficult. And that’s why Lammens can be so important.

‘It’s a big piece of the puzzle that they have solved with his signing. The uncertainty around the goalkeeping position was an obstacle to the progress United need to make. Now that they’ve found a solution in Lammens, I think it can help to be the foundation for them finally to have another title-winning side.’

Bosnich, who is heading to the west coast of America in the summer to watch Australia’s World Cup games in Vancouver, Seattle and Santa Clara, is loathe to criticise Ferguson even though Ferguson aimed some disparaging comments about his fitness in his autobiography.

The former Australian keeper says he only feels gratitude to the former United manager for signing him not once, but twice, at Old Trafford and giving him the opportunity to win major honours with the club.

He also remembers the strength of the resentment against Ferguson when Bosnich was in his first spell at the club and made his debut as an 18-year-old in 1990. That memory has helped to convince him that Amorim has what it takes to lead the club towards a new era of glory.

‘It can be tough for foreign managers when they first arrive here,’ Bosnich says. ‘Even Pep Guardiola had a difficult first season. And when Sir Alex was in his early years, there was always the achievements of Sir Matt Busby that hovered around him like ghosts.

‘But the board at that time stuck by Sir Alex and the current board has to stick by Amorim. I found it hard to watch him suffering last season but I admired the job he did at Sporting Lisbon tremendously and I see signs of things moving in the right direction. I think United are back on the right track and Lammens is a big part of that.’