How we like him?:
[rate 3.5]
What is he famous for?
He is a deadly forward who displays great athleticism, agility and makes scoring goals a routine. He’s feud with Christian Ronaldo at Manchester United is highly publicized that forced him from leaving the team three hours before Manchester United’s last game against Charlton Athletic after being left out of the lineup.
Personality & likeness
Hit man Ruud is bold and ego driven as high as his 6′ 2” frame. He thinks he is bigger than all his teammates, team and country and has sparked controversy against his dissatisfaction on playing time on Manchester United.
Playboy rating
[rate 4.5]
He is a hot commodity for women who dreams of sleeping with a superstar hunk and bad boy footballer who can make them work hard. However, he seems to be loyal and truthful for marrying his longtime girlfriend Leontine Slaats on July 10, 2004.
Coolness level
His attitude, arrogant persona contributes to his overall coolness.
What do we obsess from him?
We want him to kick Christian Ronaldo’s butt and force him to give up the ball more.
Nickname: Van the Man, The Flying Dutchman
Birthdate: 1 July 1976
Height / Weight: 188 cm, 6′ 2” / 80 kg
Position: Forward
Current Club: Manchester Utd. (ENG)
Int’l Goals: 28 (as of 25-Jun-2006)
Int’l Caps: 54 (as of 25-Jun-2006)
First Int’l Cap: Germany v. Netherlands (18-Nov-1998)
Clubs / Year / Goals
Manchester United / 2001–Present / 218 (150)
PSV Eindhoven / 1998–2001 / 67 (62)
SC Heerenveen / 1997–1998 / 31 (13)
FC Den Bosch / 1993–1997 / 69 (17)
National Team Netherlands / 1998 / 54 (28)
Biography
One of the most agile players in the game, the flying Dutch man scores almost every other game of his career and proves a potent centre-forward delivering the finishing and scoring touches on attacks. His former gymnastic trainings is seen in his agility and balance despite being 6 ft and 2 inches tall.
Timeline
His career began in 1993 with FC Den Bosch, second tier of Dutch football, and stayed there for four seasons until transferred to Heerenveen. His scoring prowess is already evident as he scored 13 goals in 30 games during his first year in the top football league. In 1998, Ruud was only 22 years old when PSV Eindhoven welcomed him on a Dutch record of £4.2 million. His worth was established having scored 31 goals and ranked second in the European Golden Shoe after which he followed up with another blazing start by scoring 29 goals by March 2000.
He moved to Manchester United via a £19 million deal with PSV which helped the club win Premiership title in 2002/2003.
Career Setbacks
Just after he was almost transferred to Manchester United, he suffered a knee injury on March 6, 2000 in a friendly against Silkeborg and a cruciate ligament injury after training one month after his knee problem.
He is losing playing time and importance to Manchester United as both Louis Saha and Wayne Rooney are outshining and outplaying him. He was dropped out in Manchester’s last game in the 2005-2006 season and found his way out of Old Trafford straight to the airport going back to Netherlands.
Career Highlights
62 goals from 67 appearances for PSV
scored 20 goals or more in four of his five seasons at Old Trafford
scored 150 goals in 219 games, (as of April 1, 2006) for Manchester United
Awards & Honours
Dutch Eredivisie: 1999-2000, 2000-2001
Dutch Super Cup: 1999, 2000
English Premiership: 2002-03
FA Cup: 2004
English League Cup: 2005-2006
Community Shield: 2003
Dutch League Top Scorer: 1998-1999, 1999-2000
English Premiership Top Scorer: 2002-2003
Champions League Top Scorer: 2001-2002, 2002-2003
Dutch Player of the Year: 1999, 2000
PFA Player of the Year: 2002
Champions League Most Valuable Striker: 2001-2002
[tags]Manchester United, Netherlands, Ruud Van Nistelrooy[/tags]
[…] Ruud Van Nistelrooy is politically used to increase his value before Alex Ferguson milks and acceptable amount of money out of his transfer. […]
[…] Ruud Van Nistelrooy is finally happy to settle down in his dream team, Real Madrid, after he fell out of grace from Alex Ferguson over Christian Ronaldo and his antics. As posted previously, no matter what Alex Ferguson says, Ruud is going to be dealt out of Manchester United, and true enough it did not take too long to kick him out of the English club. […]
[…] Ferguson is lying when he said their parting with their scoring Machine Ruud Van Nistelrooy was “very painful”. He plotted it, wanted it, and drove him out of Old Trafford; but what he doesn’t realize is that the parting with his prized striker is going to get more painful than he thought as the season starts and progress deep into the year. […]
[…] The aggression between Arsenal and Manchester United continue as Jens Lehmann is accused of kicking a bottle to the East Stand straight to a fan at Old Trafford during their game last Sunday. In previous occasions, pizzas where thrown at Arsenal’s tunnel (2002) and Arsenal defender getting penalized with his encounter with Rudd Van Nistelrooy (2004); in both times, Arsenal lost 0 – 2. […]
he is the best finisher i, ve ever seen and fegurson made a great mistake selling him his diparture has left a great lacuna in our attack his only replacement would be klaus jan hunteller and i want this message to be sent to manchester united site