Van der Sar says he turned down Man Utd return to stay at Ajax

Manchester United legend Edwin van der Sar has revealed he turned down the chance to return to Old Trafford in favour of staying at Ajax. The Dutchman spent six years at United, winning four Premier League titles and the Champions League, and cemented himself as a club legend, saving the decisive penalty from Nicolas Anelka in the 2008 final.

He retired in 2011 and later returned to Ajax in a marketing role before becoming CEO. Van der Sar said he spoke to Ed Woodward twice about a role at United but felt his work at Ajax was not finished. "Yes, I spoke to Ed [Woodward] twice about taking up a role here but at that point, I didn’t think my job was finished at Ajax with the path we were going on – we were not there yet," he told Sky Bet’s The Overlap.

He added that while Woodward had strengths on the commercial side, "the quality of certain aspects from him isn’t great" and that United needed to reorganise the football side beyond the old CEO-led model.

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