EDWIN VAN der Sar has been given compassionate leave by Manchester United to be with his wife after she suffered a brain haemorrhage. Annemarie van Kesteren has been described as “very poorly” after collapsing on December 23rd. She has been in hospital ever since and United have told Van der Sar to take as long as he needs before returning to play in goal.
Alex Ferguson, the United manager, has been keeping in regular contact with the former Netherlands international and the club have explained his absence from their Christmas programme as being because he is still troubled by the knee injury that had kept him out since the 3-0 defeat of Everton on November 21st.
In the meantime, Ferguson will choose between Tomasz Kuszczak and Ben Foster to compete for the vacant goalkeeping slot in place of the man Ferguson recently described as rivalling Peter Schmeichel to be recognised as the greatest goalkeeper in the club’s history. United’s next game is at home to Wigan tomorrow.
Ferguson prides himself on looking after his players in emergency situations and has stressed to Van der Sar that there is no pressure on him to return before he is ready.
Rob Jansen, the agent who represents the 39-year-old Van der Sar, declined to comment last night, saying it was “private business”, but Van der Sar is said to be deeply shocked by what has happened. Relatives have joined him as he looks after the couple’s young son, Joe, and daughter, Lynn.
Van der Sar, the most capped footballer of all time for Holland with 130 appearances, met Annemarie when he was shopping at her brother’s grocery store. The couple were married in Amsterdam in May 2006, with Ruud van Nistelrooy, the Real Madrid striker who has been a team-mate of Van der Sar with United and Holland, among the guests. They live in Cheshire, where Annemarie deliberately tries to shun the celebrity lifestyle.
Van der Sar has recently been contemplating an offer from the Dutch football authorities to come out of retirement to play for his country in the World Cup in South Africa next year, where they will compete in a group with Japan, Cameroon and Denmark. He had turned down their initial approach, but further talks were planned in the coming months.
