Edwin van der Sar returns to Netherlands for further treatment

Edwin van der Sar has returned to the Netherlands for further treatment on his brain bleed, his family have confirmed.

The former Manchester United, Fulham and Juventus goalkeeper was hospitalised during a holiday in Croatia earlier this month and, after his condition was stabilised, it was later confirmed that he was no longer in 'life-threatening condition'.

Van der Sar has now returned to his homeland, where he remains in intensive care for the time being.

"Edwin has been repatriated from Croatia on Friday evening and is currently in the intensive care unit of a Dutch hospital," a statement from his wife Annemarie read. "His situation remains the same: stable, in a non-life-threatening condition and communicative.

"The Van der Sar family would like to express their deep gratitude to the ‘University Hospital of Split’ for their great care during the last week.

"Edwin has to remain in the intensive care unit where he will be investigated further, and the family fervently hope he can focus on his recovery afterwards."

Fellow Dutch icon Jaap Stam sent his best wishes to Van der Sar in a recent interview with MUTV.

"We all send our love to Edwin," Stam said. "We know him very well and it's always shocking to hear that things like this are happening now.

"Edwin has always been very sporty, you know, and he always exercises a lot. So you don't expect this to happen to a former player, and a former team-mate."

He added: "We wish him all the love and we wish all the best to him and his family. Hopefully, he is going to recover well and he's going to be staying safe."