Man Utd working on club legend's SHOCK return after 23 years

Milan Keskin

Updated: 22 May 2024 19:43 BST
4 min read

Sir Jim Ratcliffe, Man Utd, 2023/24 — © IMAGO

Jaap Stam is in the picture to start working at Manchester United next season.

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The former manager of Feyenoord and PEC Zwolle, among others, was initially slated to work at Dutch lower league side DOS Kampen as head coach, but it seems possible that he will leave for Man Utd.

Italian media report that the former defender will play a role between the technical staff and the board at his former stomping ground.

In the summer of 1998, Stam transferred from PSV to Old Trafford for a fee of around €17 million. In Manchester, the Kampen-born stopper was an indispensable link in Sir Alex Ferguson's team that won the Champions League in 1999 by beating Bayern Munich 2-1 in a crazy final.

In addition, Stam became national champion in all three seasons that he played for the Red Devils and he also won the FA Cup once and the world title for club teams. The relationship between club and player came to an end in 2001, after which Stam went on to play for Lazio, AC Milan and Ajax before hanging up his football boots in 2007.

Stam back to Man Utd?

After his active career, Stam entered the coaching profession. After having held various roles in the youth ranks and as an assistant at both PEC Zwolle and Jong Ajax, he stood on his own two feet for the first time between July 2016 and March 2018, as head coach of English side Reading.

He later held the same position at PEC, Feyenoord and the MLS franchise Cincinnati, where he was fired in September 2021. In February of this year, second division DOS Kampen, the club where Stam went through the youth academy and even made it to the senior level before becoming a professional football player, proudly announced that it had roped in the former player as the new head coach for the 2024/25 season.

Judging from the Italian rumours, however, Stam could return to a position in professional football, at the club he served for three successful years. "According to the information collected by the editors in recent hours, contacts have been made between the club and Stam himself to discuss his possible return to Old Trafford," it is claimed.

"For him, however, there would be no question of a role as coach, but rather of a link between the club and the technical staff who will take over the helm of the club for the 2024/25 season," TuttoMercatoWeb predicts a departure of current head coach Erik ten Hag.