Ruud van Nistelrooy has said he is “overwhelmed” by the interest in him as interim Manchester United manager, which he believes has helped him land the Leicester role.
The 48-year-old was appointed as Steve Cooper’s successor on Saturday, just 20 days after he left Old Trafford following the arrival of Ruben Amorim as their permanent head coach.
Van Nistelrooy has only been in charge for four games since the sacking of Eric Ten Hegge, but said he was overwhelmed by the opportunities presented after his departure, having previously won silverware as PSV manager, served twice as Netherlands coach headquarters and enjoyed a successful spell in charge of PSV’s under-19 team.
“What happened after the games, the amount of interest that suddenly happened, for me, the options that came up, I was amazed,” he said.
“I thought, ‘It’s been four games and I’ve had a whole season at PSV.'” We’ve won the Dutch Cup and the Charity Shield and the championship with Jong PSV.
Van Nistelrooy (right) won the Dutch Cup with PSV in 2023 months before leaving the club.
“It never got that kind of reaction from the football world, and I was just happy to be in the conversation with the different sides. Now I’m here.”
Van Nistelrooy has revealed he was inspired by his time at Manchester United to help decide whether he should take the vacant job at Leicester after discussions with his former team-mate and friend Enzo Maresca, who coached the Foxes to the title last season. to conquer.
The two played together in the twilight of Van Nistelrooy’s career at Málaga in 2011/12 and have been close ever since, but their first talks about the club began before the job was available.
Van Nistelrooy said: “When the first approach came, I thought about the club, the players, the stadium and the staff. I was interested in the people who worked there.
“Enzo is a great friend and a teammate was one of the first to call. What better information could I get?
“When we played against each other when I was interim manager (at Manchester United) against Chelsea, we spoke for half an hour, although I didn’t know about Leicester at the time.
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“He was very positive at the time and only got better when I spoke to him again. He was absolutely right from the first impressions I got.”
“The Leicester hierarchy have given van Nistelrooy a clear, ‘difficult’ target to maintain the club’s Premier League status, he added, and said he was open about how he would approach the January transfer window and would play six games before they could enter the market .
“It was a topic of discussion,” he said. “Both of my conversations were very open and clear, it was important for me to know how things are in the near term, but also in the longer term.
“January has been discussed, but the current squad has also been discussed. The most important thing for me is to get an assessment of the players in the coming weeks after January and give each player a chance.
“Also, the staff that are staying, I’m working with the people that are still at the club. I want to bring more people in. Then we can make a decision from there.”
