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Top 25 Manchester United players of the Premier League era - #13

Sports Mole's countdown of the top 25 Manchester United players in Premier League history continues with number 13 - Edwin van der Sar.

Edwin van der Sar

Goalkeeper Edwin Van Der Sar of Manchester United gestures during the UEFA Champions League quarter final first leg match between Chelsea and Manchester United at Stamford Bridge on April 6, 2011© Getty Images

Manchester United's search for a replacement for Peter Schmeichel took them through the likes of Mark Bosnich, Massimo Taibi, Fabien Barthez, Roy Carroll, Tim Howard and more, but it wasn't until Edwin van der Sar joined the club in 2005 that they finally found the dominant presence between the sticks that they had been after.

Aged nearly 35 upon his arrival at Old Trafford, his signing from Fulham was seen as a short-term solution by many, but he went on to play for six more years at United before eventually hanging up his gloves aged almost 41.

Van der Sar holds the record for the oldest player to have ever won the Premier League - doing so in his final season at the club aged 40 years and 205 days - and his last ever game came in the 2011 Champions League final which United lost to Barcelona.

The Dutch shot-stopper had already landed Europe's biggest club prize with a man-of-the-match display in the 2008 final against Chelsea, though, 13 years after winning the same trophy with Ajax in 1995.

Perhaps his most notable achievement at Old Trafford was setting the world league clean sheet record during the 2008-09 campaign, though, going 1,311 minutes without letting in a goal in a season which ended with a Premier League and League Cup double, in addition to another Champions League final.

Van der Sar was named the best European goalkeeper that year, 14 years after scooping the same award with Ajax, and he went on to play for two more years before ending his career with 266 United appearances to his name.

The former Netherlands international won four Premier League titles, two League Cups and the Champions League during his time at Old Trafford, helping him to become the second-most decorated goalkeeper in football history.

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Barney Corkhill
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Tables header RHS
TeamPWDLFAGDPTS
1Liverpool21155150203050
2Arsenal22128243212244
3Nottingham ForestNott'm Forest21125430201041
4Newcastle UnitedNewcastle22115638261238
5Chelsea21107441261537
6Bournemouth22107536261037
7Aston Villa2210663334-136
8Manchester CityMan City2110563829935
9Fulham228953430433
10Brighton & Hove AlbionBrighton2171043229331
11Brentford2284104039128
12Crystal Palace226972528-327
13Manchester UnitedMan Utd217592629-326
14West Ham UnitedWest Ham2275102743-1626
15Tottenham HotspurSpurs21731143321124
16Everton203891526-1117
17Wolverhampton WanderersWolves2144133148-1716
18Ipswich TownIpswich2137112037-1716
19Leicester CityLeicester2235142348-2514
20Southampton2113171347-346


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