Ferguson confident Van der Sar can roar in his 40s

Sir Alex Ferguson may have felt Edwin van der Sar needed a rest this week but the Manchester United boss still believes his number one goalkeeper can continue playing into his 40s.

Van der Sar, 38, was excused Vnited’s Champions League trip to Celtic with one eye on Saturday’s clash with Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium.

And Ferguson was quick to stress that he does not expect the Dutchman to hand over the gloves to either Ben Foster or Tomasz Kuszczak any time soon.

“At the very top level, Edwin could play for certainly one more year and probably two. I have no doubt in my mind about that,” Ferguson said ahead of Wednesday’s meeting with the Scottish champions.

“He is an outstanding example for any young goalkeeper.”

Of United’s two back-up keepers, Foster is seen as a more likely long-term successor to Van der Sar. After breaking into the England set-up, the 25-year-old looked set to challenge the Dutchman last season only to be sidelined by a serious knee injury.

On his return, Foster kept a clean sheet in his only outing for United’s first team last and Ferguson has no hesitation in declaring him a better goalkeeper than the current England number one, David James.

“I can only go on what I see of that lad and in terms of first-team football that means the Derby game last season,” said the Scot.

“But that was absolutely outstanding. Considering it was his first game for a year, it was a magnificent performance.

“From that, what we see of him in training and what we saw of him at Watford, yes, I would say he is England’s number one.

“The problem for the lad is he has just recovered from an injury and Edwin van der Sar is there. It doesn’t make it easy for him. But he is young and his time will come.”

Ferguson has made it clear he will resist overtures from Tottenham about taking Foster on loan and has also assured Kuszczak that he will be given chances to press for promotion to the first team.

“All the young keepers will only get better by working with Edwin,” the manager added.

“I am in a lucky position. For many years we never had a young keeper.

“We have always struggled to get young goalkeepers here. Now we have a clutch of them.”

Either Foster or Kuszczak will start behind a defence that will include Brazilian youngster Rafael at right-back following injuries to both Wes Brown and Gary Neville.

United are also without Owen Hargreaves and Paul Scholes but Michael Carrick returned to action at the weekend and is expected to play in his first Champions League match since last season’s final in Moscow.