2003 F.A. Premier League
2004 F.A Cup
2006 League Cup
Ruud began his playing career with FC Den Bosch in the
Dutch Second Division in the 1993/94 season. After four
seasons in the lower Leagues, he was bought by top flight
club Heerenveen in 1997, and went on to score 13 goals in
30 appearances in 1997/98.
His strike rate caught the eye of PSV Eindhoven who
swooped for the striker, signing him on his 22nd birthday in
1998 for £4.2 million, a then record between two Dutch clubs.
After scoring his first goal for PSV against Heerenveen,
Ruud ended his first season in Eindhoven, 1998/99, as
top scorer in the Dutch League with 31 goals. He made his
international debut on 18 November 1998 in a 1-1 draw with
Germany, and finished second in the European Golden
Boot rankings. Not surprisingly, he was voted Dutch Player
of the Year by his fellow professionals and Fergie moved to sign the forward.
After having scored 29 goals in 1999/2000, Ruud picked up
a knee injury in March 2000. This scuppered the move to United as he could not complete a
medical meaning the deal to be postponed.
Days later, he collapsed in training with PSV Eindhoven
and damaged his cruciate ligament. His season was over,
but he was still voted Dutch player of the year for the
second successive term by his colleagues, and again
finished runner-up in the European Golden Boot charts.
After a year of rehabilitation, Ruud made his comeback by
scoring twice in a Reserve match against Sparta
Rotterdam on 1 March 2001. His first team return came
two days later, as a substitute against Roda JC.
Ruud finally signed for Manchester United on 23rd April 2001, for a British record of £19 million almost exactly twelve months to the day after his original move to Old Trafford had collapsed.
A Ruud awakening for Premiership defenders
From the moment he first put on a United shirt Ruud Van Nistelrooy couldn't stop scoring. After scoring in pre-season friendlies and the Charity Shield clash with Liverpool it quickly became obvious United had got a striker of the highest quality in world football. Van Nistelrooy was a lethal predator in front of goal and a powerful imposing player, both on the ground and in the air.
In his Old Trafford debut he got two against Fulham, goals followed against Newcastle, Spurs then a double at home to Deportivo. Ruud got his first hat-trick for the reds at home to Southampton in the 6-1 win as well as scoring twice against Boavista, Spurs, Sunderland. Vital goals also came in European away trips to Bayern Munich and Deportivo. A highlight was the FA Cup 3rd Round tie away to Aston Villa. With United 2-0 down, Van Nistelrooy came off the bench to score twice in two minutes and seal a memorable 3-2 victory.
What was most impressive was the variety of goals Ruud scored with tap-ins, one-on-ones with the keeper, headers all with equal ease. He also became the club's first choice penalty taker, converting seven with deadly accuracy.
Breaking a Premiership record by scoring in eight consecutive league games, top scorer in the season's Champions League and joining the elite few United forwards to ever score over 20 league goals in a season: Considering he didn't play for almost a year with injury, Ruud had an amazing first season at Old Trafford.
Title glory and records broken
But, if the first year was amazing, Ruud's second season at Old Trafford topped even that as United won the Premiership title. It was goals, goals, goals - 44 in total in all competitions including three hat-tricks and 12 penalties. Hat-tricks against Newcastle, Charlton and Fulham all came at critical points in the season whilst his ruthlessness on the penalty spot was incredible.
And his goals, again, weren't all tap-ins. There were great goals: fantastic solo efforts at FC Basel and home to West Ham, a superb goal at Highbury against Arsenal in the 2-2 draw and clever goals against Juventus at old Trafford and away to Bayer Leverkusen. The best one though, was a goal of the season candidate against Fulham that showed new elements to van Nistelrooy's explosive talents. Ruud picked up possession in a seemingly innocuous position close to the halfway line, spotting a gap, he brushed off five Fulham defenders, charged into the box. and slotted at an angle to beat the Cottagers keeper.
Although he missed out on the PFA award to Thierry Henry, Ruud's 25 Premiership goals won him the Golden Boot and Barclaycard Player of the Year. He was also the top scorer in the Champions League with 12 goals (excluding 2 in the qualifying round). It was hard to think of a United player more deserving of his Championship winner's medal and one who enjoyed the title triumph over Arsenal more. Ruud's sheer desire and thirst to score goals was unquenchable.
FA Cup and injuries
In 2003-2004 Ruud continued his goal scoring form but didn't hit the heights of the previous term. He scored a hat-trick away to Leicester in a 4-1 win, two against Man City in the FA Cup and two at Everton including the last minute winner in a dramatic 4-3 win. It was during the second half of the season that his league form worryingly went downhill for he went 8 games without a Premiership goal.
It also became a concern that his once omnipotent prowess from the penalty spot was gone. The striker failed from the spot four times, the most costly miss was at home to Arsenal in injury time when he hit the bar. A worrying knee injury was a setback in April but he recovered to play in the FA Cup Final and score twice to clinch a 3-0 win for the Reds over Millwall. He was also Holland's leading scorer at Euro 2004 with four goals. One against Germany and Czech Republic and two against Latvia as Holland reached the semi-finals.
The following season Ruud was absent after a groin operation until mid September. On return he was soon scoring once more and bagged 4 at home to Sparta Prague in a devastating display. He also broke Denis Law's long standing 28-goal European scoring record away to Lyon (15/09/2004) but these would the high points of an ultimately disappointing campaign
After picking up an Achilles injury on international duty in October, Van Nistelrooy was on the sidelines for almost three months. "I played with the Achilles injury for too long," he admitted. "For six weeks maybe, I carried on, until in the end I couldn't carry on anymore. I think that cost me three months.
When Van Nistelrooy returned in early March at home to AC Milan he was clearly not match fit and it would be 8 games before he scored again. The stop/start season had left him looking a shadow of the player of old. In spite of all his problems Ruud still finished as the top scorer in the Champions league with 6 goals. The cost of the Dutch star's unavailability was the lowest goal scoring total of any Manchester United team since 1991.
In 2005-2006 Ruud finished top scorer with 24 goals but it was another troubled season for different reasons. Up until February 2006 he was a first team regular and had scored 19 goals, amongst them a superb goal at Charlton where he pivoted and lashed the ball into the net after a mazy run from Rooney.
Fallout with Fergie
The new year saw a rift between the player and manager. Sir Alex wanted to "test" Ruud by provoking him into upping his game. A new strike partnership of Louis Saha/Wayne Rooney left Ruud on the bench for the first time in his Old Trafford career. Ferguson's test only had a negative effect as the forward's attitude went sour and his on-pitch body language suggested he was completely unmotivated. He was an unused substitute in the League Cup final against Wigan with Fergie preferring to give new boys Vidic and Evra a run-out. This was interpreted as a deliberate humiliation of the Dutchman.
He was on the bench for six consecutive matches but returned with goals against West Ham and Bolton in the title run-in. However when dropped from the team to play Charlton Athletic on the final day of the season, angry at the decision, the Dutchman left the ground and went home.
Sir Alex said "There have been a couple of issues during the week that concerned me in terms of the spirit at the club," he said. "On such an important day, I just felt that Ruud should be left out." He also appeared to attack Ruud in the match programme with ""if there is a non-trier, he deserves to be singled out. You cannot kid the supporters".
It was later reported van Nistelrooy and Cristiano Ronaldo had come to blows during a training session after a regrettable comment about Ronaldo's father who had died earlier in the season. The striker then received a further dressing down, told by Ferguson he would not be allowed to play in the testimonial for ex-Manchester United captain, Roy Keane.
The Dutchman had an indifferent World Cup which did little to suggest to the manager or United fans he had shaken off the malaise of previous months.
Van Nistelrooy's Manchester United career was soon over and he went the way of David Beckham, sold to Real Madrid for £10.2 million in July 2006.
Conclusion
Though it all went wrong in the end, for most of the five season's he was at Old Trafford, Ruud van Nistelrooy was undoubtedly one of top three strikers in the world. He broke many a scoring record and was an indispensable member of the United team. Ruud averaged 0.75 goals per game with 150 from 200 starts and in Europe he was even better with 0.84 goals per game. The Dutch striker will be remembered for many years to come as one of the finest ever forwards to play for Manchester United.
Ruud trivia
Ruud broke Denis Law's long standing 28-goal European scoring record with 38 goals in total over 5 seasons.
He broke the Premiership record for scoring in consecutive League games, scoring eight goals in a row from 12/12/01 to 19/1/02.
His 12 penalties in the 2002-2003 season is a club record.
Ruud is the second for the most United goals in a season with 44 goals in 2002-2003 (25 league, 4 FA Cup, 1 League Cup, 14 Europe). Denis Law holds that record for the 1963-64 season with 46.
Van Nistelrooy was officially the most expensive player in Britain for a mere 11 days, from 1st July 2001 to 12th July. His £19 million fee was surpassed by United's purchase of Juan Veron for £28.1 million.
Ruud once scored a Beckham-style long-range lob from 45 yards whilst playing for PSV against FC Roda JC.
He only scored one goal from outside the box in his entire United career - at Charlton (18/11/05)
The cruicate knee injury he suffered is the same type of injury that Roy Keane had in 1997.
Ruud is sponsored by Nike and has appeared in their high profile televison adverts.
Romario, Ronaldo, Ruud Gullit and Jaap Stam are all famous ex-PSV players like Ruud, who left for bigger clubs.
