Edwin van der Sar Reflects on Six Successful Years at Manchester United

“An incredible period in my life to play for a club like that.”

This is how Edwin van der Sar describes the six years he spent at Manchester United between 2005 and 2011. Although he joined the club at the age of 34, the legendary Netherlands goalkeeper secured four Premier League titles, the Champions League, and two League Cups, adding an impressive collection of silverware to his career during his time in England.

Speaking on the latest episode of The Wayne Rooney Show on BBC Sounds, Van der Sar reminisced about his time at Old Trafford.

“I came at the later stage of my career,” he said. “I was 34 and I was able to play there for six years.”

“When I came in, what the manager asked you to have is authority. When building up from behind, making sure that there’s authority in the back four.”

“I think Rio [Ferdinand] was still developing towards a world class defender. We had still some other players before. [Nemanja] Vitis came in, Patrice [Evra] came a little bit later.”

“I think the way Ferguson built up the puzzle towards a Champions League winning team, a Premier League winning team again – they added three or four pieces and that’s gelled together.”

“I think the quality combined with the youth and the energy that the younger players gave, looking at Wayne and [Cristiano] Ronaldo, made it an incredible period in my life to play for a club like that.”