Van der Saar Needs To Figure Out His Future?

With only another season left in Edwin van de Saar’s goalkeeping gloves, the Dutch maestro is contemplating a future that seems uncertain. It seems that I have been stumbling across many instances where goalkeepers of van de Saar’s generation are moving on…some with their pants off (ala Oliver Khan and Asia)! It seems that van de Saar is not so much confused about what to do with himself, rather he has become bored. Seriously, you get to a point in your career where the training becomes monotonous. You look for new challenges that are outside the usual sphere of goalkeeping, say, coaching or maybe golf at an exclusive resort?

“When you reach my age, you have to take it like that both in terms of the club and the player. You must always try to keep the pleasure in your game.

“When you don’t have that 100% desire any more, you can stop or go to a lower level or whatever.”

I remember that scene in the new Rocky Balboa film, where Rocky tells Pauly that he still has something left in the “basement”. I wish van de Saar would find something in his guts to continue, as he has certainly played a vital role in shaping the modern goalkeeper. Van de Saar was also in very good form this past season with Manchester United. If he did shoot off, he would be sorely missed by Red Devils fans.