Edwin van der Sar leaves door open to Man Utd return
The Dutchman has been linked with an executive role at Old Trafford before.
Legendary former Manchester United goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar has hinted he would be open to potentially returning to Old Trafford in an executive role in the future.
The Dutchman will be back at the Theatre of Dreams in June as part of World XI for Soccer Aid 2025 – some 14 years after he left the club as a player.
Van der Sar is one of Man Utd's great goalkeepers and one of the finest to play in the Premier League.
He spent the final six years of his playing career with the Red Devils, making 266 appearances and helping them win four Premier League titles, two League Cups, and the Champions League.
After hanging up his boots, the former Netherlands international took up a role at his boyhood club, Ajax. He served on the board for 11 years, initially joining as director of marketing before spending seven years as CEO.
During that period, he was regularly linked with a return to Man Utd, but such a move never materialised.
There has been plenty of change upstairs at Old Trafford since, with Sir Jim Ratcliffe taking control of football operations last summer and making a host of appointments, including Omar Berrada as CEO, as he looks to bring the good times back in the red half of Manchester.
Quizzed on following in the footsteps of some of his ex-teammates by returning to Man Utd, he said: "Yeah, of course, Darren Fletcher is more on the footballing side. I was marketing director and CEO at Ajax.
"It was a great run. I resigned a couple of years ago. Of course, in the future, you never know, and I think there's been a lot of talk in the past already with my position at Ajax and comparing it with Man United.
"At the moment, I’m loving the life that I’m leading and I think they signed some quality people in positions now. The CEO position is filled and the ownership, with Jim Ratcliffe and the family in America, so who knows?"
Even if he never returns to Man Utd in an official capacity, Van der Sar is confident that Soccer Aid 2025 will not be his last visit to Old Trafford despite the plans for a new stadium.
In March, the club announced its intention to build a 100,000-seater stadium as a replacement for the Theatre of Dreams.
The timeline on that process is unclear, but the Dutchman wants to be part of Old Trafford's farewell game when it happens.
He said: "I'm sure it's going to take a few years before you build the stadium like that.
"I don't know if we got the funding and everything yet. I'm sure there is going to be a farewell game at Old Trafford somehow and I’m putting my name down for that one already."
Van der Sar will not be the only former Man Utd player involved in Soccer Aid.
Nemanja Vidić joins him in the World XI squad and Peter Schmeichel will be part of the coaching staff, while Wayne Rooney, Paul Scholes and Gary Neville will all be pulling on an England kit again.
Soccer Aid 2025 takes place on Sunday 15th June 2025, with tickets available for the clash at Old Trafford.
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