Manchester United’s goalkeeper conundrum

At the end of the season Edwin Van Der Sar is retiring and after 6 years of loyal service, 182 appearances and some of the best goalkeeping Fergies men have seen since Peter Schmeichel  United will be looking for a new number 1.

The loss of Schmeichel was felt heavily, with the club unable to find a stable number 1, Fabien Barthez was to temperamental, Tim Howard wasn’t good enough, Roy Carroll was seen as a back-up player at the very most and Marc Bosnich just failed to impress. With Sir Alex saying that Van Der Sar is the best keeper that has been at the club since Schmeichel the boots are going to be hard to fill.

The club has invested heavily in goalkeepers lately, buying Tomasz Kuszack and Anders Lindergaard while Ben Amos has come through the ranks as a youngster. However again none of these have really set Old Trafford alight with their performances, Kuszack is ridiculed by fans and many believe that his demands for first team football will see him booted out of the club soon after Van Der Sar’s retirement, instead of his promotion to number 1 which he craves. Lindergaard was brought in this season and in the fact that he is Scandinavian has similar characteristics to Schemeichel, but that really is where the similarities end as his ability isn’t that of the Great Dane. Amos, has ability and is relatively young but has been loaned to league 1 side Carlisle where he has made a good impact but can hardly be expected to step up to the premier League next season.

Fergie’s target are reported to include, Athletico Madrid number 1 Davd Van De Gea, Shalke and Germany international Manuel Neuer, German keeper Rene Adler and Russian keeper Igor Akinfeev. So will Fergie go for any of these, sense says yes, yes and yes! But when it comes to the transfer market these days, Sir Alex is looking for that one for the future. He said Berbatov’s 30 million plus transfer would be the last of its kind, so can we expect a big money move? My answer is no, but who am I to pre-empt the thoughts of Sir Alex, only time will tell whether Van Der Sar can be replaced.