In a recent podcast appearance with Rio Ferdinand, legendary Dutch goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar revealed that Ruud van Nistelrooy was the deciding factor in his transfer from Fulham to Manchester United in the summer of 2005.
By the time United came calling, Van der Sar already had a rich career behind him. He emerged at Ajax and spent nine years with the Amsterdam club to tally up 312 appearances as well as 14 trophies (including four Eredivisie titles and a Champions League).
Juventus then signed the prestigious stopper in 1999, also of Oranje 130 times, before he moved to the Premier League with Fulham and piqued the interest of the Red Devils.
Van der Sar was 34 years old when Manchester United contacted him, but they had claimed interest in him when he was back in Turin. Speaking on Rio Ferdinand’s podcast, the keeper looked back:
“I had played in European Championships and World Cups, won Champions Leagues, but at Juventus and Fulham I didn’t win anything and I wanted to win something. At Manchester United there was already a backbone with Ryan Giggs, Phil and Gary Neville, you (Ferdinand), Roy Keane, and Wayne Rooney was up and coming… So it was easy to integrate.”
Furthermore, it seems that club legend Van Nistelrooy, who played at Old Trafford from 2001 to 2006, put in a good word for Van der Sar to then-manager Sir Alex Ferguson. The goalkeeper continued:
“He’s the reason Ferguson eventually signed me. (…) Ruud had a conversation with Ferguson at the end of the season about the next steps Manchester United needed to take. The club were looking for a midfielder and a goalkeeper, so Ruud asked why he didn’t take me.”
Ferguson countered his striker by pointing out Van der Sar’s age (34), yet Van Nistelrooy convinced him, saying “he’s still playing in the Premier League and the national team and probably has two good years left in him.”
Such was Van der Sar’s eventual impact, Ferguson later admitted that he should have brought him in much earlier. United struggled to fill the great void of Peter Schmeichel after his departure in 1999. It was only when Van der Sar signed at Old Trafford that United had a worthy successor.
At Old Trafford, Edwin van der Sar helped his side win four Premier League titles, a Champions League, two League Cups, and three Community Shields as well as the FIFA Club World Cup.
