Edwin van der Sar never intended to play into his late 30s so cannot quite believe he could be at Manchester United beyond his 40th birthday.
The veteran Dutchman moved north from Fulham in 2005, six years after Sir Alex Ferguson first wanted to sign him as a replacement for Peter Schmeichel.
Initially, Van der Sar signed a two-year contract, helping United win the Carling Cup in his first season before they ended a three-year Premier League title drought the following year.
Van der Sar has subsequently signed three one-year extensions, the first two of which brought him more championship success, plus two Champions League final appearances, the first of which, last year, saw him enjoy a second success in the competition in 1995 with Ajax.
The time is coming for Van der Sar to decide whether to commit his future to United for another year, which would take him beyond his 40th birthday.
"I never really felt I wanted to go to my late 30s," he admitted.
"When I first came to United I thought it was a nice chance to win a trophy for a couple of years.
"This is the fifth season so I have surprised myself a little bit."
On current evidence, Van der Sar will not quit just yet.
Indeed, another major international tournament cannot be ruled out, even though Van der Sar quit Holland duty after Euro 2008.
He did feature in a couple of World Cup qualifying games last season after a plea from Dutch coach Bert van Marwijk.
However, with Henk Timmer announcing his retirement from the game and current number one Maarten Stekelenburg losing his place at Ajax, a shock recall could be on the cards ahead of next summer's tournament in South Africa.
"It has not gone away completely, no," said Van der Sar, before declining to answer any more questions on the subject.
The 6ft 5in keeper's motivation is easy to spot.
Just as strikers take pride in the number of goals they score, so Van der Sar likes to collect clean sheets.
They have been in limited supply this season at United, with Van der Sar collecting just two since his return from a couple of broken fingers a month ago.
He realises it is a run that has to stop if the Red Devils are to make continued progress in the Champions League, even though they have already secured qualification for the knock-out phase ahead of Wednesday's meeting with Besiktas at Old Trafford.
"When you concede goals, you always think you could have done better with certain things," he said.
"Conceding goals is not one of the nicest things. That is why you try so hard to keep clean sheets.
"In general it is going okay for me on a personal level this season.
"But I am a team player, so I always feel better when we win instead of having an okay performance yourself and ending up on the losing side."
he's a good keeper
he is a top top goalie. United should have bought him after schmeical retired, but he went to Juventus instead and rotted there and then fulham bought him in 2001.
if he joined united in 99, united will surely have won another 1-2 more CL than the current 2 won by fergie.
keep him as GK's coach... if he is willing.
Van Der Sar, Walter Zenga and Lev Yashin...the best goalkeepers of all time
what about peter schmeical, peter shilton?
in my era, its still pete schmikes and VDS. both are top 1-2 , hard to set them apart.