"No big clubs wanted me" Van Der Sar

FujiVice

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Our man Edwin said on the Ajax youtube channel that he was at Fulham for four years simply because no top side wanted him. That's incredible to me. I do wonder how his legacy would have been viewed had we not bought him. He paints a picture as if he was a forgotten man in the game. Crazy to think he went on to win 4 league titles, a record string of clean sheets and a win us the Champions League.
 

RealBarcelonaUnited

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A top keeper and a top man. We were fortunate to have him with us and provided that stability since Big Pete left. Back when top keepers at that time were so rare too.
 
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KiD MoYeS

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I remember being surprised at just how good he was when United signed him from Fulham. I viewed it as a stop-gap but he ended up being one of the best goalkeepers in the clubs history. I suppose his style of play was never very eye catching, an incredibly safe pair of hands and exceptional control of his box. That coupled with being at Fulham probably kept eyes off him for longer than it should.
 

rotherham_red

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I remember being surprised at just how good he was when United signed him from Fulham. I viewed it as a stop-gap but he ended up being one of the best goalkeepers in the clubs history. I suppose his style of play was never very eye catching, an incredibly safe pair of hands and exceptional control of his box. That coupled with being at Fulham probably kept eyes off him for longer than it should.
It was the bad experience he had at Juve which scared the big clubs off him IMO.

I remember we were massively in for him when he was at Ajax but he ultimately decided to go to Juve. A missed opportunity as I think back the struggles we had back then from Van der Gouw (though he was by no means a bad player and was actually pretty decent all in all, especially compared to what came after him), Taibi, Ricardo, Barthez, Carroll and Howard etc.

Still, he came in the end and was a fantastic servant for as long as he was here.
 

NFM

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It should be a lesson to all. There are some excellent players out there, just because they don't play for a big club, or have pushy agents doesn't mean that they can't do a good job. So when United, as widely reported want to sign a CF and CD this summer, everyone should appreciate a big fee or a big name doesn't always bring success, and having neither should also not be a decisive factor. This is when our new structure could and should pay for itself.
 

KiD MoYeS

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The more I think about it the more I feel he was actually up there with one of the best signings the club has ever made. I love Edwin.
 

Tarrou

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what would you pay today to purchase Edwin again at the same age he was when we signed him?
 

Davie Moyes

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Absolutely bizarre nobody wanted him. You only had to watch him for Fulham to know he was top class.

I was chuffed when we bought him. It was a low key signing but I knew our keeper situation was sorted with him on board and I can't believe it took so long for us to sort out the mess.

Was really pleased how long we got out of him though, a real bonus. I initially expected him to be an excellent experienced stop gap allowing us time to recruit a younger keeper.
 

RashyForPM

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Absolutely bizarre nobody wanted him. You only had to watch him for Fulham to know he was top class.

I was chuffed when we bought him. It was a low key signing but I knew our keeper situation was sorted with him on board and I can't believe it took so long for us to sort out the mess.

Was really pleased how long we got out of him though, a real bonus. I initially expected him to be an excellent experienced stop gap allowing us time to recruit a younger keeper.
I agree. The fact that he gave us so many years of service that he actually needed to be replaced when he left rather than simply being a stopgap as you said is a massive achievement in itself. More so, he was the best keeper in the world in the years he was with us. Gargantuan goalkeeper and presence in goal.
 

carpy

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He had to rebuild his reputation somewhat at Fulham and by the end of his time there he was getting a lot of praise. Was seen as a stop gap signing and the price reflected that. Bet Fulham weren't expecting him to go on to play at United for 6 seasons.
 

roonster09

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Shame we signed him so late, should have been Great Dane replacement.
 
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I must admit that I was livid when we signed him.

I was very wrong about him.
As were many people.

I wasn’t lived, but disappointed that we had bought a stop gap keeper for £2m.

how wrong we, and many others were.

I don’t think he particularly shined at Fulham to be honest, so no surprise no one came in for him.
 

Sarni

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what would you pay today to purchase Edwin again at the same age he was when we signed him?
I was about to say he wouldn't cost much in today's game either as he was already 35 only to realize Neuer is 35 in two weeks and would probably cost £50m.
 

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Huge part of why that defensive unit became so difficult to beat. Rio was a very vocal player and a leader, but if you look to see who is actually in charge at the back, it's VDS.
 

amolbhatia50k

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I was about to say he wouldn't cost much in today's game either as he was already 35 only to realize Neuer is 35 in two weeks and would probably cost £50m.
Didnt realise/remember the fact that we signed him at the sprightly age of 35. Bloody hell he achieved a lot in what would normally be the fag end of a career.
 

FrankDrebin

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I remember watching Football Italia alot on C4 during the late 90's and early 00's and it seemed VDS was dropping blunder after blunder every other game for Juve.
His form for the Old Lady was wretched and because of that no one went near him other than Fulham, who were thinking and spending relatively big at the time after promotion to the PL.
 

Damien

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what would you pay today to purchase Edwin again at the same age he was when we signed him?
He was 34 about to turn 35 so don't think the price nowadays would be that much different.

Threads at the time:
https://www.redcafe.net/threads/what-do-you-think-of-the-signing-of-edwin-van-der-sar.79441/
https://www.redcafe.net/threads/van-der-sar-completes-move.79941/
https://www.redcafe.net/threads/van-der-sar-what-the-feck.79475/
https://www.redcafe.net/threads/van-der-sar-makes-reds-pledge.79557/

One comment on the last one:
I was watching Through the night and he said that after his 2 yr contract is up he wants to play at Ajax. that bothered me a bit. Shouldn't he want to play for a longer contract at United?
Thank feck he stayed longer.
 

Gio

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I remember watching Football Italia alot on C4 during the late 90's and early 00's and it seemed VDS was dropping blunder after blunder every other game for Juve.
His form for the Old Lady was wretched and because of that no one went near him other than Fulham, who were thinking and spending relatively big at the time after promotion to the PL.
Yeah spot on. Serie A in the '90s was so unforgiving that many players left with their reputations damaged. The transfer hit rate was for these big foreign signings or emerging stars was probably well below 50%. It was especially corrosive to a goalkeeper's reputation because their ability in their role is determined so much by their bottle and it looked like Van der Sar, despite his achievements with Ajax, was caving under the pressure of a big club in a big league.
 

Idxomer

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I would love to see someone again with his confidence and stature in goal.
 

sullydnl

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I remember watching Football Italia alot on C4 during the late 90's and early 00's and it seemed VDS was dropping blunder after blunder every other game for Juve.
His form for the Old Lady was wretched and because of that no one went near him other than Fulham, who were thinking and spending relatively big at the time after promotion to the PL.
Yep, he had a bit of a nightmare spell by all accounts. Funny given his reputation among United fans is that of an extremely reliable keeper.

Not sure what the lesson is there but I'm sure there is one.
 

arthurka

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In my opinion he was the best keeper of the lot.
Pete was great and was a loud and scary fella with great attributes but VDS just did everything so calmly and without any fuzz at all.
Rio and Vida can´t praise him enough, his control of the defense, positioning and composure was absolutely perfect almost all the time.
His distribution was without a doubt some of the best seen by any keeper and his handling when needed was up there with the best.

VDS without a doubt was a dark horse for me but he absolutely won me over when he played here, just whished we could have gotten him sooner.
 

POF

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Van der sar was a good solid unspectacular keeper and was exactly what the club needed at the time.

After years of unreliable keepers who made countless mistakes, he was a breath of fresh air and after Vidic was signed, he was the perfect keeper to play behind Vidic and Rio. They didn't need a superstar keeper. They needed a good organiser who didn't make mistakes and saved what he should save.

That's what he was. He shouldn't even be in the conversation with Schmeichel as he's nowhere near his level but United was the perfect club for him at the ideal time.
 

harms

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Our man Edwin said on the Ajax youtube channel that he was at Fulham for four years simply because no top side wanted him. That's incredible to me. I do wonder how his legacy would have been viewed had we not bought him. He paints a picture as if he was a forgotten man in the game. Crazy to think he went on to win 4 league titles, a record string of clean sheets and a win us the Champions League.
Well, he was. He was seen as a young player that got elevated by Ajax's coherent and complex system, but when he needed to adapt, he failed to do so, basically earning a title of an overrated prospect (something that today often happens with players from well-drilled sides like Ajax/Dortmund etc.). His reputation took a huge hit, especially when Juve decided to spend astronomical amount of money to sign another goalkeeping prodigy in his place, admitting that they have zero hope in him improving.
 

Inter Yer Nan

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I remember reading something to the affect that he was called "the boring goalkeeper" because there's so many matches when he seemed to do so little but that was a compliment to his amazing organizational skills. A great communicator and reader of the game. You always felt calm with him in goal.
 

Foxbatt

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I remember that United wanted to sign him but he told SAF that he has given his word so he couldn't go back on it.
So it's not that we didn't try in 1999.
 
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Van der sar was a good solid unspectacular keeper and was exactly what the club needed at the time.

After years of unreliable keepers who made countless mistakes, he was a breath of fresh air and after Vidic was signed, he was the perfect keeper to play behind Vidic and Rio. They didn't need a superstar keeper. They needed a good organiser who didn't make mistakes and saved what he should save.

That's what he was. He shouldn't even be in the conversation with Schmeichel as he's nowhere near his level but United was the perfect club for him at the ideal time.
if you were writing this before he signed, I’d agree with you.

the reality was very different, he was brilliant for us - and he’s definitely in the conversation as to who our greatest keeper has been.
 

Bojan11

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He did have some good games vs Arsenal. But I don’t think he was spectacular at Fulham. I wasn’t sure about him, because he was doing silly stuff like above. I thought we were getting someone like Barthez again, who clowns around with the ball too much.

It still took him time, as I remember that shocking game against Boro, where he gifted them a goal. The infamous Keane interview happened after that. Once Vidic and Evra came into the team it improved Rio and VDS.
 

MrMarcello

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I remember that United wanted to sign him but he told SAF that he has given his word so he couldn't go back on it.
So it's not that we didn't try in 1999.
Think it was also complicated by Edwards who had already offered Bosnich a pre-contract, mostly because he would cost no transfer fee. By the time SAF had convinced Edwards we need to look at others before settling on one, VDS had already agreed with Juve.
 

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Although there were a couple of times you think he may have been able to have done better (for example Messi’s goal in the 2011 CL final) I can only ever remember one glaring mistake when he dropped a cross against West Brom.

Incredibly reliable goalkeeper.

It makes me laugh when pundits are saying how mental it is City weren’t behind in a game for 3 months, when in 2009 we wen’t FOURTEEN league games straight without conceding a single league goal, not even a consolation for the opposition when we were 5-0 up - nothing. Edwin was phenomenal during that run.
 
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FrantikChicken

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I still remember being like 12 and arguing with people on some Fifa forum about how he should have a higher rating in the game than Howard and everyone laughed at me! He was always my favourite keeper growing up, I think I was just infatuated with the whole Dutch team at the time, so many iconic players.
 

Sunny Jim

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Our man Edwin said on the Ajax youtube channel that he was at Fulham for four years simply because no top side wanted him. That's incredible to me. I do wonder how his legacy would have been viewed had we not bought him. He paints a picture as if he was a forgotten man in the game. Crazy to think he went on to win 4 league titles, a record string of clean sheets and a win us the Champions League.
Shame we wasted 4 years with abject keepers.
 

Sunny Jim

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Although there were a couple of times you think he may have been able to have done better (for example Messi’s goal in the 2011 CL final) I can only ever remember one glaring mistake when he dropped a cross against West Brom.

Incredibly reliable goalkeeper.

It makes me laugh when pundits are saying how mental it is City weren’t behind in a game for 3 months, when in 2009 we wen’t FOURTEEN league games straight without conceding a single league goal, not even a consolation for the opposition when we were 5-0 up - nothing. Edwin was phenomenal during that run.
Didnt that West Brom game end 2:2 and we lost the title on GD? And yes thats my no1 memory of VDS
 

Bojan11

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Didnt that West Brom game end 2:2 and we lost the title on GD? And yes thats my no1 memory of VDS
No, pretty sure we just didn’t win every home game that season as a result. It was his final season.

You probably confused with De Geas first season.