Manchester United’s Edwin van der Sar offered Ajax coaching role – but could take a year off first

Edwin van der Sar, Manchester United(Getty Images)

Related Links

Teams

Players

EXCLUSIVE
By Wayne Veysey

Edwin van der Sar could be in line for a return to Ajax as goalkeeping coach – but not until the summer of 2012, Goal.com can reveal.

The 40-year-old Manchester United goalkeeper will quit playing at the end of the season and has not yet revealed his post-retirement plans.

He has been sounded out by his friend and former Ajax colleague Frank de Boer, who is head coach at the Dutch club, about a role training the goalkeepers from this summer.

But Van der Sar, who was a member of Ajax’s 1995 Champions League-winning team and also won a Uefa Cup, four league titles and three domestic cups during his nine years in Amsterdam, has indicated he would prefer to wait before returning to the club where he began his senior career.

“There is a possibility he could take up the offer this summer but it is more likely that he will take a year off and spend some time with his family before going back into football,” an Ajax source told Goal.com. “Van der Sar has not made his mind up yet as he has a few other things on the table.”

In an interview with a Dutch magazine last month, the United ‘keeper, who will line up against Schalke in the first leg of his team’s Champions League semi-final on Tuesday night, said he was mulling over a number of offers at home and abroad, including commercial and coaching roles.

The offer to Van der Sar from Ajax is believed to be independent of the Johan Cruyff-led coup that is set to continue at the club over the summer and unlikely to be completed until the start of next season.

Ajax’s board of directors, including chairman Uri Colonel and chief executive Rik van den Boog, quit at the end of last month over a disagreement with club legend Cruyff but they are set to remain in their positions until successors are appointed. It is a process that insiders believe could take “around four months” because of the convoluted chain of command at the Dutch club.

Cruyff wants Van der Sar’s former colleagues and fellow Ajax legends Dennis Bergkamp and Wim Jonk to be part of the new-look coaching team, as well as greater responsibility for De Boer.

Follow Wayne Veysey on