Manchester United on alert as Van der Sar hint dropped

The Manchester United board must be on alert as a hint was recently dropped about the future of Edwin van der Sar at Ajax Amsterdam.

One position that Manchester United need to fulfil immediately is director of football. In the absence of one, those duties have been overseen by Ed Woodward to mixed results.

Just in the previous transfer window, we saw how the club missed out on Jadon Sancho despite chasing the Borussia Dortmund star for months. And they also failed to land a number of their other targets.

Who is say that if they had had a designated director of football then they would not have those targets? Perhaps someone like Edwin van der Sar or Marc Overmars.

Van der Sar is currently the chief executive at Ajax Amsterdam while Overmars is their director of football. And the former Arsenal star has hinted that the duo could be looking to leave soon.

As reported by Football 365, Overmars said:

"“When I was appointed in this job at Ajax I knew I only wanted to stay for three or four years ­maximum.“I have been here eight seasons now! For me – but just as much for Edwin – it is sure that we are not going to carry on here until we are 60.“This job at Ajax is costing too much energy. The whole of the ­Netherlands is constantly on my back and has an opinion about us."

He has claimed that they want to win the Champions League together, which is exactly what Manchester United should be targeting as well:

"“We had one shared ambition – we wanted Ajax to reach a European final. Which one did not matter. We managed that in 2017, and now we want more.“We want to win the Champions League or Europa League.”"

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Manchester United should be delighted if they are able to bring back Van der Sar to the club. After all, he managed to oversee Ajax becoming a force in Europe once again and going to the Champions League semi-finals before all their stars were plucked out by financially stronger clubs over the following seasons.

Of course, he is not the director of football. That job belongs to Overmars. And getting him would be a major coup as well. But what effect will their arrival have on Woodward’s role at the club. After all, the executive vice-chairman of the club has done his job when it comes to the financial side of things and it is unlikely that he will be gone anytime soon.

The fact of the matter is that they need to step things up on the pitch as well though. They have not been Premier League contenders since Sir Alex Ferguson retired and it has not been because of a lack of investment on players. It’s just that the players brought in have not been good enough far too often. Perhaps getting in someone like Van der Sar or Overmars will change that.