Former Manchester United goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar has confirmed he held talks with the club.
Manchester United goalkeeping legend Edwin van der Sar twice rejected a senior role behind the scenes at the club.
He has shed new light on the situation in an interview with The Overlap, speaking one-on-one with former teammate Gary Neville.
Edwin van der Sar turned United down
Since he called time on his legendary playing career, Edwin van der Sar returned to Ajax, the club where he started out.
Van der Sar took up a role as Ajax CEO, helping them a sustained period of domestic success in the 2010s, that saw them also reach the Champions League semi-finals, and the Europa League Final.
With Manchester United poorly run at the time, there were admiring glances from Red Devils supporters, hoping that the Dutchman could come in and replace the awful Ed Woodward.
United did not even have a director of football at the time, and when the club did appoint one, John Murtough was promoted internally.
In 2019, Van der Sar told Sky Sports that he would be open to a future role with Manchester United.
Now speaking to The Overlap, Van der Sar has now revealed that he had two conversations about a role at Old Trafford.
He explained that this would have been working alongside Ed Woodward, rather than a role as his replacement.
Van der Sar said: “Yes, I spoke to Ed Woodward twice about taking up a role at Manchester United, but at that point, I didn’t think my job was finished at Ajax with the path we were going on – we were not there yet.
“But I had two good conversations with him on two separate occasions about a role, probably alongside him.”
Van der Sar’s comments highlight how United got it wrong. It should never have been a case of Woodward interviewing the former goalkeeper.
He should have been headhunted to replace Woodward to take up a similar role to his one at Ajax.
The Glazers gave Woodward too much power and took such a disinterested stance on United, that instead all power was delegated to him.
It is not a surprise that Van der Sar was unswayed by an approach to come in and work alongside or even underneath Woodward.
Manchester United’s structure has now changed considerably, with Woodward eventually stepping down in 2021, and Ineos taking over footballing operations in late 2023.
Van der Sar has stepped back
Edwin van der Sar suffered a serious health scare in 2023, taken to intensive care with a brain hemorrhage.
This came shortly after he stepped down as Ajax chief executive, citing a need to ‘take some distance’ from the game.
Van der Sar subsequently stated he was unsure if he wanted to take on the kind of 50 to 60 hour week he once worked at Ajax.
And at Manchester United where the pressure and scrutiny is stronger and even more unforgiving, we cannot blame him for putting his health first.
from United In Focus https://ift.tt/YN9ibCj