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World
Cup 2006
Star Player Profiles
Ruud
van Nistelrooy
Birth Date: July 1 1976
Birth Place: Oss
Birth Nation: Netherlands
Height: 188cm
Weight: 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.
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