Former Manchester United goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar has claimed that everyone at his former club must get on the same page if they are to bring success back to the club.
The 54 year old played for United between 2005-2011 in a trophy-laden spell in Manchester. Following his retirement, he worked as marketing director and later CEO at Ajax between 2012 and 2023.
Sadly, he had a brain haemorrhage in July of the same year but thankfully the legendary keeper has seemingly made a full recovery.
Speaking to Sky Sports, Van der Sar opened up on his journey back to full health.
Asked if he had made a full recovery he claimed, “I think so, yes. Probably some things changed in my thinking, but that’s only, for example, my wife and my children, they notice that. But let’s say a conversation like this is not a problem.”
He stated that he is now enjoying his life, taking time away from football, but when he was asked on what the future holds, he would not rule out a return to the sport.
When asked if he was finished with football he claimed that he didn’t think so and stated, “I think what I achieved, what I learned in 11 years as a marketing director and as a chief executive, I’m sure there’s going to be a challenge somewhere. It’s going to be a possibility. Is it the one for me? I’m not sure yet. I have not decided at the moment.”
“The attraction of the football world, the smell of success or working with a team to achieve something, I think that will be a pull at a certain point in the coming years.”
The conversation then moved on to his thoughts on the current state of things at his former club. The Red Devils have experienced a turbulent few weeks with the sacking of Erik ten Hag and sporting director Dan Ashworth.
Commenting on how the club can get back to the top he stated, “it’s of utmost importance that all things are connected. I experienced at Ajax also when one radar, one little thing is not working, it can have an effect down the line.”
He claimed this has also happened at United with changes in the structure and CEO position over the last few years.
The Dutchman asserted that whilst he doesn’t know too much about the new manager, Ruben Amorim, he made a good impression on him when they met a few years ago.
“With Ruben, I met him four or five years ago. I think we played Sporting Lisbon, and he was the manager at that time. I was watching the U19 Youth League game, and he was there also, so I had a nice conversation with him. I think he’s an open man, I think his humour is open, his English is good.”
Van der Sar then gave some advice to the current set up at the club and urged his former side to stop “chopping left and right”. He said they have signed enough players and should only add footballers they view as necessary to make Amorim’s new formation work.
“Now they’re going to play a new system. Of course, a manager probably wants to have one or two players coming in January. I think the most important thing is to have the line with the technical director, the football director, that they can know which situation will be needed to replace, to change, to add.”
Finally he claimed that while time is a nice bonus to achieve success, Amorim and the club will eventually be judged purely on their results. He left on a positive note claiming, he was “sure those results will come.”
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Alex Browne
Alex is a huge Manchester United fan, inspired by greats of his homeland such as George Best, Harry Gregg and Norman Whiteside. Proud owner of such niche shirts such as Kleberson, Eric Djemba-Djemba and Gary Neville. Grew up pretending to be Ruud van Nistelrooy and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in the back garden, with little success.
