Edwin van der Sar never intended to play into his late 30s
so cannot quite believe he could be at Manchester United beyond his
40th birthday.
The veteran Dutchman moved north from Fulham in 2005, six years
after Sir Alex Ferguson first wanted to sign him as a replacement
for Peter Schmeichel.
Initially, Van der Sar signed a two-year contract, helping
United win the Carling Cup in his first season before they ended a
three-year Premier League title drought the following year.
Van der Sar has subsequently signed three one-year extensions,
the first two of which brought him more championship success, plus
two Champions League final appearances, the first of which, last
year, saw him enjoy a second success in the competition in 1995
with Ajax.
The time is coming for Van der Sar to decide whether to commit
his future to United for another year, which would take him beyond
his 40th birthday.
"I never really felt I wanted to go to my late 30s," he
admitted.
"When I first came to United I thought it was a nice chance to
win a trophy for a couple of years.
"This is the fifth season so I have surprised myself a little
bit."
On current evidence, Van der Sar will not quit just yet.
Indeed, another major international tournament cannot be ruled
out, even though Van der Sar quit Holland duty after Euro 2008.
He did feature in a couple of World Cup qualifying games last
season after a plea from Dutch coach Bert van Marwijk.
However, with Henk Timmer announcing his retirement from the
game and current number one Maarten Stekelenburg losing his place
at Ajax, a shock recall could be on the cards ahead of next
summer's tournament in South Africa.
"It has not gone away completely, no," said Van der Sar, before
declining to answer any more questions on the subject.
The 6ft 5in keeper's motivation is easy to spot.
Just as strikers take pride in the number of goals they score,
so Van der Sar likes to collect clean sheets.
They have been in limited supply this season at United, with Van
der Sar collecting just two since his return from a couple of
broken fingers a month ago.
He realises it is a run that has to stop if the Red Devils are
to make continued progress in the Champions League, even though
they have already secured qualification for the knock-out phase
ahead of Wednesday's meeting with Besiktas at Old Trafford.
"When you concede goals, you always think you could have done
better with certain things," he said.
"Conceding goals is not one of the nicest things. That is why
you try so hard to keep clean sheets.
"In general it is going okay for me on a personal level this
season.
"But I am a team player, so I always feel better when we win
instead of having an okay performance yourself and ending up on the
losing side."