Football
Rob Dawson, Correspondent 5y

Van der Sar on Man Utd role: 'You never know'

Edwin van der Sar is not ruling out a return to the Premier League amid speculation he is on Manchester United's wanted list as their new technical director.

The former United goalkeeper is currently chief executive at Ajax and although the 48-year-old insists he is happy at the Dutch giants, he admits he is open to moving on in the future.

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"You never know," said Van der Sar, who spent six years as a player at Old Trafford between 2005 and 2011. "At the moment Ajax is the principle thought where I'm putting all my time and effort in and whatever happens in the future, we will see."

Van der Sar was part of a staff that helped Ajax reach the semifinals of the Champions League last season. He was named marketing director in 2012 before being promoted to chief executive in 2016. Former Netherlands teammate Marc Overmars is director of football -- a position United have been looking to fill since Jose Mourinho was sacked in December -- and Van der Sar says it has helped Ajax maintain "a focus."

"I'm the chief executive at Ajax, Marc Overmars does the director of football role, so in that way we have a focus in Amsterdam," he said. "We've known each other for a very long time, from our playing times and from 1993 in the national team, so in that way we're focusing quite well and we get on with the rest of the board.

"I think the idea is that you have an opportunity to grow yourself and to learn. That happened when I went abroad to Italy and then when I went to England with Fulham and even at United, and it's similar now. I stopped playing in 2011, did a masters degree in sports management and started as a marketing director in 2012, so you learn along the line.

"In that way I want to develop myself and that goes perfectly with Ajax at the moment."

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