Stan Collymore has advised Arsenal to rival Manchester United for two legends of Dutch football.
United are being linked with moves for the pair, Marc Overmars and Edwin van der Sar, who are currently employed by Ajax as director of football and chief executive officer respectively.
Van der Sar is the former Red Devils goalkeeper, while Overmars played for Arsenal as a winger.
And, in his weekly column for The Daily Mirror [17 November, page 47], Collymore wrote: “The prospect of Edwin van der Sar and Marc Overmars at Manchester United is a tantalising one and, if I were Ed Woodward [the United executive vice chairman], I’d take both.
“The Dutch duo would bring some much-needed football savvy to the corridors of power at Old Trafford and, as they have shown lately at Ajax, some great organisational skills.
“But if I were Arsenal, I’d also be making a move for the pair, not just for those very reasons but because the Gunners surely don’t want to let another club legend slip through the net as they did with Patrick Vieira [the ex-Arsenal midfielder turned Nice manager]. Overmars and Van der Sar could clear out the stench from both clubs in double-quick time.
“However, whether or not United supremo Woodward and those at the top at Arsenal would willingly invite in two men who could shine a spotlight on their recent ineptitude remains to be seen.”
Speaking earlier this month, Overmars admitted that, in having spent eight years in his current Ajax role, he has more than doubled his intended tenure.
And he affirmed that neither he nor Van der Sar, who have implemented recruitment and youth development systems that The Daily Mirror describes as being ‘the envy of the world’, will still be there at 60.
Both Manchester United – Daley Blind, Timothy Fosu-Mensah and Donny van de Beek – and Arsenal – Joel Ideho – have profited from the pair’s work at Ajax.
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