Edwin Van Der Sar by Jude Cauchi
I
t was very late in Moscow on May 21st 2008, tensions and uncertainty were running high. Up stepped Nicholas Anelka to take the sixth penalty of the night for Chelsea and for that moment, from a United perspective, all eyes turned on the big Dutchman to save the day and win the third European Cup for Manchester United. Luckily, he did not disappoint and transformed the fans’ emotions from torture to ecstasy. Sweet, sweet memories indeed , and my favourite memory of Edwin Van Der Sar in a United shirt. Looking back at the history of the club, Manchester United should consider themselves very lucky to have had legends of the calibre of Edwin Van Der Sar playing for the club and it is not surprising to hear consistent rumours linking him with a return for one of the executive positions at the club. As a matter of fact, one can argue that the ex-goalkeeper has already had a positive influence in the transfer business of the club in the past and was probably also an important stakeholder to ensure a smooth transition in the move of Erik Ten Hag from Ajax to Manchester United. Back in June 2005, when Edwin signed for Manchester United, the idea of having secured a goalkeeper in decline which had failed at Juventus FC did not fill me with too much excitement. Consequently, my expectations were low focused on the premise that he was going to be another desperate attempt to fill the shoes of the
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great Dane where so many goalkeepers had already failed. Thankfully, history proved me wrong.
In total, the Dutchman made a total of 226 appearances for the club before moving to Italian giants Juventus in 1999.
Edwin Van Der Sar was born on the 29th October, 1970 in Voorhout. In terms of his professional career, he has played for AFC Ajax, Juventus FC, Fulham FC and Manchester United. The Dutchman has won four Eredivisie titles, two KNVB Beker cups and three Netherlands Super Cups, four Premier League titles, three League Cups and three Charity Shields in addition to two Champions Leagues, one FIFA Club World Cup, one UEFA Super Cup and an Inter-Continental Cup. The goalkeeper also enjoyed a respectable international career representing his country in various tournaments.
Unfortunately, although he made 66 appearances for Juventus, his time at the Old Lady did not go as planned and it is mostly remembered for his costly errors that prevented the Bianconeri from winning the Seria A title, once losing to Lazio and the following season to Roma. Such costly errors were not forgiven and eventually Van Der Sar lost his place in the summer of 2001, after the Bianconeri purchased Italian international goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon from Parma for 100 billion lire (approximately £32.6 million), a worldrecord fee for a goalkeeper. Unwilling to remain as second-choice behind Buffon, Van Der Sar made it clear he wished to move on after two years in Serie A and eventually joined Premier League side Fulham FC in August 2001 and that proved to be another game changer in the Dutchman’s career.
In terms of his numbers, impressively he made a total of 313 appearances in the Premier League and kept a total of 132 clean sheets in addition to securing the prestigious Golden Glove award in 2008/09. Edwin Van Der Sar commenced his football career at his local home town. At an early stage, Louis Van Gaal offered him the opportunity to sign for AFC Ajax where he started to develop into one of the best goalkeepers in Europe, helping his side to win European trophies and compete amongst the best. To acknowledge his performances, Edwin was presented with the best European goalkeeper award in 1995 together with other domestic honours.
He made his debut in a 3-2 defeat away to Manchester United and made a total of 127 league appearances with the Cottagers and memorably saved two penalties in his final match for the London club against Aston Villa. Manchester United secured his signature on the 10th June 2005 and to date, some fans including Sir Alex Ferguson ranks him as the best goalkeeper to have played for the club since Schmeichel and few would argue against that. In terms of his contributions to
