32 Greatest footballers in the history of the English Premier League - Part 17
19. Ruud Van Nistelrooy:
Ruud Van Nistelrooy is a Dutch professional footballer who currently plays for the German Bundesliga side, Hamburg where he plays as a striker and is famous for his “inside-the-box” finishing techniques. He is the second highest goal scorer in the history of the UEFA Champions League as the former PSV player has managed to find the net 60 times in European competitions.
Ruud Van Nistelrooy has achieved a lot throughout his career and has scored a lot of goals where other strikers can only dream of achieving what he has achieved. He has managed to become the highest goal scorer in the Champions League for three seasons and has also been a top scorer for three different European leagues.
Van Nistelrooy started playing football with FC Den Bosch, when he was only a kid but then managed to make a move to the Dutch club SC Heerenveen where in only 22 starts, Nistelrooy found the net on 13 occasions. With such an amazing finishing technique, Ruud Van Nistelrooy was hunted down by PSV Eindhoven which turned him into a goal scoring machine. During the Dutch League, he found the net 62 times in only 67 appearances and his talent was acknowledged all around the world as his in the box finishing was simply fabulous.
After winning three leagues with PSV Eindhoven, this star striker was hailed all across Europe; especially in England. Manchester United wanted a striker on their side and there was no better striker in Europe other than Ruud Van Nistelrooy who was at the top of his game at a very young. A deal was almost finalized during 2000 but because of his injury, the signing was delayed till next season when he finally made it to England for a medical test. A record 19 million pounds deal helped Nistelrooy land at Manchester United.
The Dutch striker was truly a sensation. Within no time, he settled in quickly and started scoring goals for his new club. He stayed with Manchester United for 6 years and accomplished what many players could just dream of accomplishing. He made 150 appearances for the Red Devils and found the net 95 times which is simply an outstanding record.
After joining Manchester United, Ruud Van Nistelrooy was able to bag a lot of awards. His time at the English club was very successful as he won the English Premier League, the FA Cup, the League Cup and also the FA Community Shield. Later, he also managed to win the “Sir Matt Busby Player of the Year” on two occasions. In all competitions, Ruud scored 150 goals in only 219 games. He became Manchester United’s all-time European record goal scorer.
The “amazing” striker then decided to make a move to La Liga giants Real Madrid. However, his spell with the Spanish side was not as successful as it was with the Red Devils. Even though he scored 46 goals in only 68 La Liga appearances, Ruud Van Nistelrooy barely managed to make it to the first team towards the end of the second season. However, he helped the Spanish team in winning the La Liga and Supercopa de Espana twice. The Dutch striker then signed for the German team Hamburg in the winter transfer window of 2010.
Ruud Van Nistelrooy was not only a successful goal scorer at club level; he was also an outstanding striker with his national team, Netherlands. He made his debut in 1998 and till date, has scored 34 goals for his country even though he only appeared on 66 times. Even though he decided to retire from international football back in 2007, he was called up again after the FIFA World Cup 2010, to replace Robin Van Persie during the Euro 2012 qualifiers. The amazing goal scorer managed to find the net again even after so many years and added 2 more to the list of goals.
Tags: