Man Utd legend reveals he turned down Old Trafford return to remain at current club

Van der Sar cemented himself as a true club legend during his time at Old Trafford, winning eight major trophies with the Red Devils. The Dutchman played a key role in Manchester United's Champions League win over Chelsea in 2008, saving the decisive penalty from Chelsea's Nicolas Anelka in a shootout as the Red Devils were crowned champions of Europe. Former Manchester United goalkeeping coach Eric Steele said Van der Sar was on a par with Peter Schmeichel. He told BBC Radio Manchester: "He was a fantastic servant. I was very lucky. I worked alongside Peter Schmeichel at Villa and I worked with Edwin for two and a half years. That penalty save in Moscow has elevated Edwin alongside Peter."

The goalkeeper retired from football in 2011 but continued to work in the sport. He returned to Ajax initially in a marketing role and was then promoted to CEO. Van der Sar resigned in 2023 and has now revealed he could have taken up a role at United but decided against returning to England.

He told Sky Bet‘s The Overlap: "Yes, I spoke to Ed [Woodward] twice about taking up a role here 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. I had two good conversations with him on two separate moments about a role, probably it would have been alongside him. Ed did a great job of leading the club. Mainly on the commercial side, of course he was involved in the sale of the club.

“On that point and also I have been with him in meetings with the ECA [European Club Association] many times and the quality of certain aspects from him isn’t great but you would probably say it would be nice to have something on the football side beside him. Now I think the last two or three years United have tried to work to organise the football side and not only have that by the CEO, David Gill, and Sir Alex Ferguson. That is not going to cut it anymore, it’s not going to come back.”

Van der Sar was also asked about his future plans but is yet to decide on his next move.

"I’m undecided yet. I have had some conversations with some head-hunters, some parties, some multi-club ownerships but I have not found the right project yet or made the decision," he added.

“I think my life that I lead at the moment, I travel a lot and do a nice thing with some commercial stuff in Asia. But at a certain point you feel the knowledge that I gained, to take a step, I’m 55, so I think I still have four or five years to give to the game or to an organisation. It doesn’t have to be a football club, it can be an organisation that goes around football but it has to be something to do with sports."

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