Manchester United have officially welcome Ruud van Nistelrooy back to the club as the former Old Trafford favourite joins Erik ten Hag’s revamped coaching staff.
The 48-year-old arrives back in Manchester alongside fellow Dutchman Rene Hake as an assistant manager. Meanwhile, Mitchell van der Gaag has left to pursue his own managerial career, with Benni McCarthy also departing, but Steve McClaren and Darren Fletcher staying.
Van Nistelrooy’s time in Manchester as a player felt all too brief, perhaps due to leaving just as Sir Alex Ferguson was building his third great United side. But he still scored an astonishing 150 goals across all competitions during that time – including losing much of one season to injury – and was incredibly popular with fans as cries of ‘Ruuuuuuud’ reverberated around Old Trafford.
Van Nistelrooy went on to play for Real Madrid, Hamburg and Malaga in his playing career, before turning his hand to coaching in 2013 a year after hanging up his boots.
The majority of his post-playing career until now has been spent at various levels with PSV Eindhoven, peaking as first-team head coach. He was also an assistant coach within the senior Netherlands national team setup under Guus Hiddink from 2014 and later Ronald Koeman.
United have traditionally had success with assistant coaches who are former players – think back to Brian Kidd, Jim Ryan and Mike Phelan of the Ferguson years. They knew the club inside out, knew what it means to be a Manchester United player and oould help form the necessary bridge for information to flow between the manager and the squad.
Ten Hag was already going down this kind of route with the recruitment of McClaren, who was Ferguson’s No.2 during the Treble era, and pulling Darren Fletcher more into the coaching side from his previous role as technical director. Van Nistelrooy only strengthens that.
United players supposedly didn’t have sufficient respect for Ralf Rangnick during his ill-fated spell in charge, which is seemingly what sent results spiralling by the end. But what Van Nistelrooy achieved during his playing career – his goal record for United and others, league titles in three countries, a Premier League Golden Boot, PFA Players’ Player of the Year, Premier League Player of the Season and two-time Sir Matt Busby Player of the Year…
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