Sunderland had a mare with van Nistelrooy

Sunderland have loved the posh of a variety of gifted strikers over time and are at present benefitting from Ellis Simms and Ross Stewart’s knack for locating the again of the online.

The likes of Kevin Phillips, Darren Bent, and Jermain Defoe are different forwards who had improbable spells in entrance of aim on the Stadium of Gentle, however there’s one participant who might have added his identify to that record – Ruud van Nistelrooy.

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Again in 2000, Black Cats boss Peter Reid revealed that the prolific Dutch marksman was a participant on their radar in 1997, saying: 

”He’s a top quality participant and somebody we had been seeking to purchase three seasons in the past when he was nonetheless one thing of an unknown. It was simply after we began again within the First Division.

“On the time he was enjoying for Heerenveen and I feel he was solely 19. However they quoted us £5 million which on the time was simply far too excessive a worth for a participant we couldn’t completely make certain can be a hit.”

The striker ended up signing for PSV in the summertime of 1998 and plundered an distinctive 77 objectives and 20 assists in 90 appearances for the Eredivisie outfit.

This led to Manchester United snapping him up in 2001 for a price reported to be within the area of £19m and he loved an exceptional five-year spell at Previous Trafford.

The Netherlands worldwide scored 150 objectives and assisted 25 in 219 matches in all competitions for the Purple Devils, winning the Premier League, the FA Cup, and the League Cup.

Van Nistelrooy was as soon as described as a “devastating” finisher by his former teammate Rio Ferdinand and Louis Saha additionally hailed the striker, saying:

“He has the last word mentality of a striker. He’s all the time concentrating so he will be in the appropriate place to anticipate a go or be in the appropriate place to obtain it. That’s what makes him so efficient.

“There may be no person on the planet like him. David Trezeguet is an identical participant however he doesn’t have the identical high quality, management and method. Ruud retains management of the ball with three gamers attempting to get it off him. He’s the whole ahead.”

Reid and Sunderland actually made a mistake by deciding in opposition to signing the centre-forward, who ended up scoring a whopping 327 profession objectives at membership degree, for £5m in 1997.

He went on to turn into a prolific goalscorer in England and proved that he would have been a terrific signing at that worth, notably provided that he signed for United for £14m greater than that 4 years later. Certainly, the ex-manager is prone to have nightmares about that decision over 25 years in the past.