subject: Van Der Sar Nets New Contract [print this page] Edwin van der Sar, who remains Manchester United's first choice goalkeeper in spite of being nearly 40 years old, will be staying at club for one more year, whilst Sir Alex works out who the best man to suceed him in the Number 1 jersey is.
United fans will be happy to see that van der Sar is committing himself to the club, and offering the defenders a calming voice and a safe pair of hands, after all the former Fulham stopper was UEFA's top keeper in 2009 having gone a record 1,311 minutes without conceding a goal.
Whilst van der Sar looks set to continue between the posts for another season, commentators are unsure as to who will take on the number 1 jersey once he retires. His substitute keepers at United (Poland's Thomasz Kuszczak and England hopeful Ben Foster) have struggled to make an impact at the club, and have looked less than confident when gives the opportunity to play in United's less decisive matches. In particular, Foster was widely blamed for the humiliating loss to Leeds United in the FA Cup earlier in the season.
United continue to be linked to many of Europe's best goalkeepers, with rumours abound that bids for quality goalkeepers are imminent.
Amongst those whom have been pushed forward by the media for the role between the sticks at the World's richest club, include Igor Akinfeev, the young Russian goalkeeper whom Sir Alex Ferguson saw at close quarters earlier in the season when he faced United, and impressed.
Italy and Juventus' Gianluigi Buffon is widely recognised as the best goalkeeper in the world, and may be on his way from Turin after the Bianconeri failed to secure Champions League football, in a disappointing season. At 30, he may be considered too old to replace Edwin van der Sar, and too expensive.
Other options include the much lauded French Goalkeeper Hugo Lloris and Germany's Markus neuer, though quite how either goalkeeper would cope with the new demands and pressure of playing in the Premier League rather than their domestic leagues remains to be seen.
With the contract extension, Sir Alex Ferguson has another year in which to find the answer to this question, and he can continue to rely on the ageing Dutch Master to keep the goals out, and exude confidence to the rest of the team.
There had been speculation that van der Sar would return to the Netherland's for one last season in the Eriedivisie, but those have been newly quashed by this contract revelation.
