Ruud van Nistelrooy could be the latest former Manchester United player to step into management as the Dutchman is the frontrunner to land the PSV Eindhoven job.
The 45-year-old ex-striker is currently the manager of the club's reserve side Jong PSV, but has been widely tipped to take up the reins for the first team from Roger Schmidt when he leaves at the end of the current campaign. Van Nistelrooy represented PSV as a player prior to joining United in a £19million transfer, where he arguably enjoyed the peak years of his career.
After spells at Real Madrid, Hamburg and Malaga, van Nistelrooy moved into coaching following his retirement, first as an assistant for Netherlands' national team, before joining PSV's youth set-up with their under-17 side and then their under-19s.
It will be a big step up for van Nistelrooy if he lands the senior gig full-time, though, with former PSV boss Fred Rutten likely to serve as his No.2, as reports Dutch publication Eindhovens Dagblad. In doing so, he would become the latest ex-Man Utd star from the Sir Alex Ferguson era to try his hand in the dugout.
Already there are eight managers in full-time roles in the UK who have previously donned United's colours, including van Nistelrooy's former strike partner Wayne Rooney, who is currently boss at Championship relegation battlers Derby County.
Van Nistelrooy's spell playing under Ferguson will likely have stood him in good stead for the daily rigours and challenges of elite football management. Legendary ex-England and Newcastle boss Sir Bobby Robson also managed him during his early days at PSV, and van Nistelrooy revealed both shared the same quality he hopes to adopt on his own career path.
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“As a young player I saw the way in which Sir Alex and Sir Bobby were slaughtered by the media," van Nistelrooy said in December. “I used to think ‘oh dear, our manager is going to be right down in the dumps today after all this. But they would both walk in really cheerfully!
“They had been under fire so many times or had been given outrageous praise the other way that it didn't even affect them anymore. Sir Alex and Sir Bobby would get all this s*** piled on them, but they did not give the slightest inkling that it had upset them.
“They would work with us, the players, as if nothing had happened. It is a wonderful quality, which I would like to have as a manager.”
Van Nistelrooy sadly had a highly-publicised falling out with Ferguson, which effectively ended his stint at United, though the pair have since made up. And the former Red Devils star admits he learnt valuable lessons just from being around the legendary Scot.
“My years under Sir Alex Ferguson were massive," he added. "There, at the training grounds, in the dressing room, and in the build up to matches, I learnt something really vital: how to maintain your high level of playing.
“At Manchester United, you were brought in to score 30 goals - and you learned how to cope with that in your head. I played under Sir Bobby Robson - and I learnt other things from them, too, which I will certainly use in my career as a manager.”
