Ruud Van Nistelrooy




Birth Date: July 1 1976
Birth Place: OssBirth
Nation: Netherlands
Height: 188cmWeight: 79Kg
Nationality: Dutch
Position: Forward

Ruud van Nistelrooy started his professional career with Dutch second division side, Den Bosch as a midfielder in 1993 Ruud played only twice for Den Bosch in his first season.
Four years later he signed for Dutch first division team, SC Heerenveen, where he became a striker. His coach told him to learn to become better from watching Dennis Bergkamp play. So Van Nistelrooy drove to watch Bergkamp and studied every move he made. It worked because Ruud scored 13 goals in 31 games in his first season.
Darren Ferguson told his father, Alex about Ruud's goal scoring prowess but on his 22nd birthday, van Nistelrooy signed for PSV Eindhoven for £4.2 million which was a transfer record between two Dutch clubs. He got off to a good start, scoring his first league goal for PSV against his former club in August. By the end of October, Ruud scored a hat-trick for PSV against Sparta. In fact he was in such great goal scoring form that on 18th November 1998, he made his international debut for Holland in a 1-1 draw against Germany.

His first international goal came in 1999 against Morocco in a 2-1 defeat
At the end of his first season with PSV in 1999, Ruud finished as top scorer in the Dutch League and second highest in Europe with 31 goals in 34 matches and earned himself second place in the European Golden Boot rankings. He was also voted Dutch Player of the Year by his fellow footballers
In his second season with PSV Eindhoven, Van Nistelrooy notched up another 29 goals (with two hat-tricks against Ajax) and was again top scorer in Holland.
During this time, Manchester United had a year of negotiations with PSV Eindhoven about procuring Van Nistelrooy
Manchester United looked like they would get Ruud van Nistelrooy in April of 2000 but the £18.5 million transfer collapsed because United's medical team found problems with his medial ligaments in his right knee. Man United wanted to open his knee up but Ruud refused because it would of put him out of Euro 2000. But two days later in training at Eindhoven, Ruud collapsed having ruptured the cruciate ligament in the same knee. The same injury that Roy Keane had, and recovered from earlier.
Ruud was forced to watch Euro 2000 on television in a clinic in Vail, Colorado.
He received many words of support from players such as Ronaldo, a former PSV player, and Marc Overmars
Ruud returned to action with PSV Eindhoven in March 2001 and was immediately back scoring the goals netting twice to help PSV into the Dutch Cup final.
But Manchester United hadn't given up on the quest to secure Van Nistelrooy
Ruud then turned down an offer to play for Real Madrid and instaed opted (after passing a thorough medical) to sign a five-year contract with Manchester United on April 23 2001. However United were forced to pay PSV an increased price of £19 million for him
He wasted no time at Man Utd, scoring on his first team debut in the Charity Shield and on his Premiership debut against Fulham. From there, he went on to fire in 36 goals for United in his first season. He also entered the record books by scoring in nine consecutive Premiership games in December and January 2002
Van Nistelrooy led United's charge back to the top with a run of eight goals in eight games and was also on fire in the Champions League where he finished top scorer in the competition with ten goals.
He was last season's top scorer in the English Premier League with 25 goals.