Manchester United legend Ruud van Nistelrooy has turned down a return to former club Heerenven while refusing to rule out a spell as a manager in the Premier League.
While it’s fair to say not too many of Sir Alex Ferguson’s former charges have enjoyed considerable success in the dugout – see Steve Bruce, Mark Hughes and (briefly) Gary Neville – the early promise displayed by the legendary Manchester United duo Michael Carrick and Ruud van Nistelrooy suggests they could be an exception to that rule.
Carrick guided Middlesbrough to the Championship play-offs in his debut season and the semi-finals of the EFL Cup in his second.
Van Nistelrooy, meanwhile, celebrated victories in the Dutch cup and in the Netherlands’ version of the Community Shield before his 12-month stay as the head coach of PSV Eindhoven ended due to a breakdown in relations with the club’s bosses.
Ruud van Nistelrooy open to Premier League return
Van Nistelrooy also helped lay the foundations for this season’s success under Peter Bosz, PSV cruising at the top of the Eredivisie with many of the young players their iconic former striker succeeded in bringing through.
The United-linked Johan Bakayoko, to name but one.
Earlier this week, one of Man United’s finest goalscorers of the modern era admitted – in an interview with a Spanish publication – that he has little interest in returning to the Netherlands. Those comments go some way to explaining why, according to Heerenveen director Ferry de Haan, Van Nistelrooy turned his nose up at Heerenveen’s offer to take over at the end of the current campaign.
“I have proposals from Holland. But I would like to coach in Spain, England or Germany, leagues in which I have been a footballer,” says ‘RVN’, who spent the 1997/98 season at Heerenveen before enjoying far greater success at Man United and Real Madrid.
“I also speak the languages.”
A modern-day Manchester United icon
Interestingly, it was under Van Nistelrooy at PSV where Jarrad Branthwaite went some way to establishing himself as one of the finest young centre-halves in European football.
Now back at Everton, Branthwaite is reportedly emerging as United’s number one defensive target during their maiden summer under Ineos control.