Ruud van Nistelrooy, Manchester United player

Ruud van Nistelrooy was Manchester United’s most dependable goal-scorer since Denis Law. He scored one hundred and fifty goals in just five seasons.

He was born in Oss in the Netherlands in 1976. He turned professional at seventeen and spent four years at FC Den Bosch, where he changed from being a central defender to a striker. In 1997 he left Den Bosch and joined SC Heerenveen. After just one season he signed for PSV Eindhoven for what was then a record fee in the Netherlands. It was when playing for PSV that he came to the notice of Manchester United. Apparently it was Sir Alex Ferguson’s son Darren who spotted van Nistelrooy and recommended him to his father. van Nistelrooy was about to sign for Manchester United in the summer of 2000 when he failed a medical. Shortly afterwards he suffered a serious knee injury in training and any possible transfer was indefinitely delayed. Throughout the following year Sir Alex Ferguson kept in touch (much to PSV’s irritation) and the following summer van Nistelrooy passed the relevant medical and signed for Manchester United for £19m.

In van Nistelrooy’s first season, 2001-2002, he scored thirty-five goals. In 2002-2003, he scored forty-four, a seasonal total bettered only by Denis Law in 1963-1964. In the following three seasons van Nistelrooy continued scoring. He was the club’s leading scorer in four out of his five seasons, all except 2004-2005 when he missed a number of games through injury. Many of his goals were scored in Europe. By the time he left, van Nistelrooy had scored more European goals than any other Manchester United player. Despite these goals, Manchester United only once won the Premiership (2002-2003) during his five years at the club, and the only other trophies won were the FA Cup in 2003-2004 (van Nistelrooy scored twice in the final) and the Carling Cup in 2005-2006. In the latter game van Nistelrooy was only a substitute. This didn’t please him and appeared to bring to a head a certain disharmony between him and others at Old Trafford. The manager, sensing a disruptive influence, promptly sold van Nistelrooy at the end of the season to Real Madrid. A number wondered how the team would manage without their leading goal-scorer. In fact, in the following season (2006-2007), Christiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney both scored freely and Manchester United again won the Premiership.

Ruud van Nistelrooy was a natural goal-scorer and an excellent penalty-taker. His strike-rate compares with that of any Manchester United player from any era. He wasn’t exceptionally fast, and few of his goals were scored from outside the penalty area, but with the right service he was devastating close to goal. Without him, the relatively barren period of 2001-2006 would have been considerably worse.