It looks like Edwin van der Sar will be retiring at the end of the season, and Manchester United are on the lookout for a new number one goalkeeper.

Tim Krul – has done very well in Newcastle goal

Edwin no longer plays for the Netherlands side after gaining an amazing 130 caps, and it seems that Newcastle’s  Tim Krul is third choice for his country right now.

But since Holland manager van Marwijk only calls up  two goalkeepers into his squad, Tim still has to have his first senior call-up, although he’s played 10 times for the Holland U21 side.

Krul said today:

“I have played for Holland at various levels and am ready to move on from the Under-21 side to try and challenge for senior honors.”  “To have a chance of one day making it into the Holland senior side I first had to ­establish myself as a Premier League keeper and this season I have managed to do that.”

“But my first target is to remain ­Newcastle’s first choice. It has been good for me to have a good run because last season at Newcastle it was just one game here and one game there.”

“Edwin van der Sar is someone I look up to. He is the main man. He was my idol when I was younger and he won the Champions League at Ajax.” “I have never stopped following him. To see him at Manchester United and what he does there is fantastic.”

“With Edwin, you nearly always see that if a goal goes in it is not his fault. Of course, he makes the odd mistake but ­generally he has ­everything covered.” “You can learn a lot when you see him play. If I can even achieve half of what he has achieved then I will be a happy man.”

Tim has managed to establish himself in the Premier League this season, only due to the fact that Steve Harper injured his shoulder, which gave Tim the opportunity to come into the Newcastle side.

Of course Steve Harper is due back in training within a week or two, and Tim will need to be at his very best if Chris Hughton doesn’t again plump for experience between the posts,  and 35 year-old Steve Harper.

But Tim has played very well in Steve’s absence,  and he’s on a learning curve for sure, but the first team games under his belt has obviously made him a better goalkeeper, and Newcastle fans can see that with each passing game.

But as happened with Shay Given and Steve Harper,  the two top goalkeepers currently at the Newcastle club get along well, and Steve Harper has been almost like a mentor to Tim, as the Dutchman tries to take the number one jersey away from the man who was back-up to Shay Given for around 10 years on Tyneside.

Tim continued:

“It was a bad injury for Steve, but he would be the first one to say that this is now my chance to shine.”

“I had to be patient last year. I have always been lucky that I have been playing with the Dutch ­national team at ­Under-21 level and that has always kept me going.”

And as we said earlier, Steve Harper is due back in a week or two to training, and then we’ll see who earns the goalkeeping jersey at Newcastle, but there’s little doubt Tim has done himself a lot of good by his sound performances in the Newcastle goal, since Steve was injured at Everton on 18th September.

And Newcastle last month had two of their youngsters make their debuts for their country in 21 year-old Andy Carroll for England and 20 year-old Tamas Kadar for Hungary, so as the youngsters are brought through on Tyneside, we should see more of them representing their countries, and one of them will definitely be  Tim Krul.

Comments welcome.