Manchester United’s greatest players: No 14, Ruud van Nistelrooy
Who are the greatest players in Manchester United’s history? The Athletic gave Andy Mitten the task of compiling his top 25, and we are counting them down this summer, in reverse order.
He explains his thought process here.
Ruud van Nistelrooy played only 219 games for Manchester United, the second-lowest of anyone on this list. That he scored 150 times, a goal every 0.685 games, pushes him so high. For a while, Van Nistelrooy was the best striker in the world.
“Thierry Henry or Ruud van Nistelrooy,” we asked fans to choose on United’s 2003 U.S. tour, citing the best two players in the league. Van Nistelrooy was far more prolific. Only Tommy Taylor, who died at Munich, comes close to his United ratio.
Dennis Viollet, with 0.611, should also be noted. Mancunian Viollet is fifth on the list of all-time United goalscorers, with 179 goals between 1953 and 1962, though he only played for England twice. Taylor, with 131 goals from 191 appearances, is 16th. The Yorkshireman, signed from his hometown club of Barnsley, was 26 when he died.
While we’re on great goalscorers, ‘Gunner’ Jack Rowley’s 211 in 424 games would have been higher had the Second World War not taken six years out of his United career. The same can be said of Stan Pearson, one of Rowley’s strike partners in Sir Matt Busby’s first great side, who scored 148 goals in 343 games. Rowley is fourth in United’s all-time top scorers’ list. Pearson is 12th.
Anyway, back to Van Nistelrooy.
He signed from PSV Eindhoven in 2001. Sir Alex Ferguson’s scout brother Martin had spotted him at Heerenveen in the Eredivisie, but PSV beat United to his signature. United went back in 2000 to sign him, but he failed his medical after cruciate damage was spotted – and later confirmed when a new agonising injury kept him out for a season. United stayed patient and supportive and got their man in 2001 for a substantial £17million fee ($22.9m at today’s exchange rate).
Van Nistelrooy was an immediate success. He was United’s player of the year in his first two seasons, Professional Footballers’ Association player of the year in his first and Premier League player of the season (and top scorer) in his second, as well as Champions League top scorer in three seasons. In his five campaigns at Old Trafford, his goal tallies were 36, 44, 30, 16 (from 27 games) and 24.
“His numbers were sensational,” Ferguson said in his 2013 autobiography. “He was one of our club’s greatest goalscorers. If you put my great goalscorers together (Andrew Cole, Eric Cantona, Van Nistelrooy and Wayne Rooney), Ruud was the most prolific. Van Nistelrooy scored some magnificent goals, but many were scabby, six-yard box goals.”
Ruud van Nistelrooy was Europe’s deadliest striker when he was at Manchester United (Paul Barker/AFP via Getty Images)
The son of Oss, north of Eindhoven, won respect from his peers.
“He was the best finisher,” Ryan Giggs told me in 2024. “Coley, Sparky, Eric — even Cristiano (Ronaldo). All good finishers. Ruud would do exactly in training what he’d do in a game. He wouldn’t pass to you if the shot was on. And if the shot was on then he’d score. He had every finish in the bag: side foot, pings, dinks. He’d do it every day in training.”
“Ruud was a prime-time finisher, up there with Ole Gunnar (Solskjaer),” concurred Wes Brown. “He only needed one chance.”
Every single one of his United goals was scored inside the box, an approach that only changed when he moved to Madrid.
“I scored one goal outside the box in England but here I can play a bit more,” he said from the Spanish capital. “I come into the midfield to receive the ball, and I didn’t do that at United. We had an unbelievable midfield at United, so I just needed to stay up front, receive the ball and finish.”
He said that in 2008 when I went to Madrid for the first interview in which he spoke at length about United after leaving England amid acrimony two years earlier. That there is a full chapter in that Ferguson autobiography simply called ‘Van Nistelrooy’ explains much and it’s far from pretty.
When I met him, he’d netted in seven consecutive games to equal a Real Madrid club record held by the legendary Ferenc Puskas. Van Nistelrooy’s endeavours made him Spain’s leading scorer, the third country in which he had topped the goal charts, after the Netherlands and England.
“Do you miss Manchester?” I asked.
“We do,” he said. “We were very happy there and I always thought I would finish my career at United. Sometimes things don’t go the way you plan, but that’s true in life and not just football. We spent five years there and Manchester will always be part of us. We met some great people and I had a wonderful time playing for United. My final months at the club were difficult, but I don’t really think of those when I remember my time at United.”
Ferguson had felt the striker was trying to engineer a move away and the relationship soured. Had the dust settled after that fallout?
“Yes,” he added. “It was difficult at the end, but that’s part of professional life. I hold no grudges and sometimes I look back and laugh at the situation. I think we would act differently if the same situation repeated itself, but everyone has moved on. United had a great season and won the league, while I had a great season and won the league. Other players have taken over at Old Trafford putting the ball in the back of the net… Ronaldo’s development has been the big change since I left. He stands out now. His improvement has been incredible.”
In 2010, Sir Alex Ferguson and Van Nistelrooy reconciled after the Dutchman called Ferguson and apologised, something his former manager admired.
“People ask me for my favourite memories of my time in Manchester, but just being a Manchester United player and playing at Old Trafford was a highlight,” Van Nistelrooy said. “I’ve never had that feeling before or after (even at Madrid). Maybe it was because I was out injured for a year and United stuck by me. Everyone was waiting for me when I arrived and I embraced that feeling. It meant everything to me that United stuck by me. People say that they will wait in football but change their mind. United didn’t.”
Van Nistelrooy returned as a coach in 2024 to support compatriot Erik ten Hag, whom he briefly replaced as caretaker manager a few months later, winning 75 per cent of his games, the highest in the club’s history.
Van Nistelrooy’s numbers always did stand out.