Full name Rutgerus Johannes Martinus van Nistelrooij , born July 1 , 1976 in Oss , North Brabant , Netherlands.
Ruud is a Dutch football player currently playing for Manchester United . He wears the number 10 for Manchester United and number 9 for Holland team..
Ruud is a natural striker with phenomenal finishing. He has great instinct inside the penalty box. He is also a regular penalty taker. And has exceptional agility and balance for his height of 1.88 m 6 ft 2 in), which is often credited to his previous training in gymnastics. He scores very frequently for Manchester United and his national team. 

FC Den Bosch days

Ruud began his playing career with FC Den Bosch in the Dutch Second Division in the 1993/94 season. After four seasons in the lower Leagues, he was bought by top flight club Heerenveen in 1997, and went on to score 13 goals in 30 appearances in 1997/98. His strike rate caught the eye of PSV Eindhoven who swooped for the striker, signing him on his 22nd birthday in 1998 for ?4.2 million, a record between two Dutch clubs.

After scoring his first goal for PSV against Heerenveen, Ruud ended his first season in Eindhoven, 1998/99, as top scorer in the Dutch League with 31 goals. He made his international debut on 18 November 1998 in a 1-1 draw with Germany, and finished second in the European Golden Boot rankings. Not surprisingly, he was voted Dutch Player of the Year by his fellow professionals.

After having scored 29 goals in 1999/2000, Ruud picked up a knee injury in a friendly against Silkeborg on 6 March 2000. The next month, a proposed move to Manchester United fell through because he could not complete a medical at United, causing the deal to be postponed.

Days later, he collapsed in training with PSV Eindhoven and damaged his cruciate ligament.

His season was over, but he was still voted Dutch player of the year for the second successive term by his colleagues, and again finished runner-up in the European Golden Boot charts.

After a year of rehabilitation, Ruud made his comeback by scoring twice in a Reserve match against Sparta Rotterdam on 1 March 2001. His first team return came two days later, as a substitute against Roda JC.

Ruud Signs For Manchester United

Ruud finally signed for Manchester United on 23rd April 2001, for a British record of ?19 million. It was almost exactly twelve months to the day after his original move to Old Trafford had collapsed. Recently, Ruud scored for Holland when he came on as substitute in their 4-0 win over Cyprus and twice again as substitute in a 4-2 win against Estonia.

From the moment he first put on a United shirt Ruud Van Nistelrooy couldn't stop scoring. After scoring in pre-season friendlies and the Charity Shield clash with Liverpool it quickly became obvious United had got a striker of the highest quality in world football.

In his Old Trafford debut he got two against Fulham, goals followed against Newcastle, Spurs then a double at home to Deportivo. Ruud got his first hat-trick for the reds at home to Southampton in the 6-1 win as well as scoring twice against Boavista, Spurs, Sunderland. Vital goals also came in European away trips to Bayern Munich and Deportivo. A highlight was the FA Cup 3rd Round tie away to Aston Villa. With United 2-0 down, Van Nistelrooy came off the bench to score twice in two minutes and seal a memorable 3-2 victory.

What was most impressive was the variety of goals Ruud scored. He can score tap-ins, one-on-ones with the keeper, headers or spectacular shots all with equal ease. Like all experts, he makes it look easy. He also became the club's first choice penalty taker, converting seven with deadly accuracy.
Breaking a Premiership record by scoring in eight consecutive league games, top scorer in the season's Champions League and joining the elite few United forwards to ever score over 20 league goals in a season: Considering he didn't play for almost a year with injury, Ruud had an amazing first season at Old Trafford.


Premiership Champs
 
But, if the first year was amazing, Ruud's second season at Old Trafford topped even that. Goals, goals, goals - 44 in total in all competitions including three hat-tricks and 12 penalties. Hat-tricks against Newcastle, Charlton and Fulham all came at critical points in the season whilst his ruthlessness on the penalty spot was incredible.

And his goals, again, weren't all tap-ins. There were great goals: fantastic solo efforts at FC Basel and home to West Ham, a superb goal at Highbury against Arsenal and clever goals against Juventus at old Trafford and away to Bayer Leverkusen. The best one though, was a goal of the season candidate that even Ryan Giggs would envy and showed, yet again new elements to van Nistelrooy's explosive talents. Against Fulham, Ruud picked up possession in a seemingly innocuous position close to the halfway line. Spotting a gap, he brushed off five Fulham defenders, charged into the box. and slotted at an angle to beat the Cottagers keeper.

Although he missed out on the PFA award to Thierry Henry, Ruud's 25 Premiership goals won him the Golden Boot and Barclaycard Player of the Year. He was also the top scorer in the Champions League with 12 goals (excluding 2 in the qualifying round). Its hard to think of a United player more deserving of his Championship winners medal and one who enjoyed the title triumph over Arsenal more.

After coming away empty-handed in his first season, Ruud's sheer desire and thirst to score goals was unquenchable. In many ways he resembled Roy Keane in his drive and determination, he wasn't going to tolerate another trophy-less season. Even when the Reds lost 3-1 at Real Madrid, his never say die attitude shone through that night and impressed everyone inside the Bernabeu and beyond.

In 2003-2004 Ruud continued his goal scoring form but didn't hit the heights of the previous term. He scored a hat-trick away to Leicester in a 4-1 win, two against Man City in the FA Cup and two at Everton including the last minute winner in a dramatic 4-3 win. It was during the second half of the season that his league form worryingly went downhill for he went 8 games without a Premiership goal. It also became a concern that his once omnipotent prowess from the penalty spot was gone. The striker failed from the spot four times, the most costly miss was at home to Arsenal in injury time when he hit the bar.


FA Cup victory for Ruud

A worrying knee injury was a setback in April but he recovered to play in the FA Cup Final and score twice to clinch a 3-0 win for the Reds over Millwall. He also bagged four goals as Holland reached the semi-finals of Euro 2004. The following season Ruud who was absent after a groin operation until mid September. On return he was soon scoring once more and bagged 4 at home to Sparta Prague in a devastating display.

It would the high point of an ultimately disappointing campaign. After picking up what appeared to be a calf problem on international duty in October, he limped on for another six weeks before the problem became so bad he had to stop. An Achilles injury was the true cause and it kept Van Nistelrooy on the sidelines for almost three months. "I played with the Achilles injury for too long," he admitted. "For six weeks maybe, I carried on, until in the end I couldn't carry on anymore. I think that cost me three months.

When Van Nistelrooy returned in early March at home to AC Milan he was clearly not match fit and it would be 8 games before he scored again. In fact the stop/start season had left him looking a shadow of the player of old. United fans will be hoping he can stay injury free and get back to being one of the greatest strikers in world football for season 2005-2006. And in spite of all his problems Ruud still finished as the top scorer in the Champions league with 6 goals. Sir Alex especially knows the cost of the Dutch stars unavailability, 2003-04 was the lowest goal scoring total of any Manchester United team since 1991.



Controversy at Manchester United

On February 26, Van Nistelrooy was an unused substitute at Manchester United's League Cup final against Wigan Athletic. His place in the line-up was given to Louis Saha, who scored the second goal in a 4?0 win. This caused lots of controversy but the player declined claims that he has had a rift with manager Sir Alex Ferguson.


Rift with Ferguson

He was also left on the bench for six consecutive matches and suffered a goal drought, as he was not getting in the starting line up. However, in the following game against West Ham, Van Nistelrooy returned to the Manchester United starting line-up as captain, and scored the winning goal. In the game the following Saturday, against Bolton Wanderers, Van Nistelrooy found himself back on the bench ? however, he came on as a substitute, and for the second successive game, scored the winning goal, his 150th for the club.

Having not started for seven of the last eight games, Van Nistelrooy lost his place as the joint-highest goalscorer in the Premiership this season with 21 goals, with Thierry Henry having scored 24. Fresh doubt has been spread over Van Nistelrooy's future when he was left out of the team to play Charlton Athletic in the final game of the season on 7 May 2006.

Ferguson claimed that Van Nistelrooy, angry at the decision, left the ground and went home 3 hours before kickoff. Although, other reports suggest that he was forced to leave the ground by his manager Sir Alex Ferguson. Ferguson further said that he was left out of the team because of a "number of issues": "There have been a couple of issues during the week that concerned me in terms of the spirit at the club," he said. "On such an important day, I just felt that Ruud should be left out." He added, "We'll be discussing it with the club's directors." United won the game 4?0, with youngster Giuseppe Rossi playing the match.

On May 9, 2006, Setanta Sports claimed to exclusively reveal the real reason behind Van Nistelrooy's non-inclusion in the squad for the game against Charlton. According to Setanta, van Nistelrooy and team-mate Cristiano Ronaldo had come to blows during a training session. Ruud allegedly criticised Ronaldo's tendency to keep the ball, instead of passing, and then the two fought. Van Nistelrooy then, allegedly, said "go running to your daddy". Ronaldo's father had died earlier in the season, though the article claims that Van Nistelrooy was not referring to Ronaldo's father, but to his fellow Portuguese Carlos Queiroz.

On 9 May 2006, Ruud was told by Sir Alex Ferguson that he would not be allowed to play in the testimonial game for former team mate and ex-Manchester United captain, Roy Keane. Despite an excellent season for Manchester United, Van Nistelrooy is said to have become frustrated by a lack of playing time and is most likely to move on after the World Cup. The decision by the United management to continue to deny Van Nistelrooy opportunities has been seen as controversial due to the striker's immense popularity amongst the Old Trafford faithful, compared to the less popular Saha. On 13 June 2006, Bayern Munich admitted to being interested in obtaining Ruud van Nistelrooy's services. However, with the arrival of Andriy Shevchenko at Chelsea FC, Andriy's previous club AC Milan are said to also be chasing Ruud.

He has also been the target of Newcastle, as a replacement for injured Michael Owen or the retiring Alan Shearer. All the rumours of Ruud moving to a new club at the start of the new season were thought to have died away after club manager, Sir Alex Ferguson stated on MUTV that Van Nistelrooy would be continuing his career at Manchester United. However, on 14th July 2006, Manchester United Manager, Alex Ferguson confirmed that Ruud wanted to leave the club. Rumours suggest a transfer to Real Madrid or Bayern Munich is possible. Van Nistelrooy has been said to have agreed terms with Real Madrid already, however the stumbling block seems to concern price. Real are reported to be preparing a bid of ?10m with Manchester United likely to hold out for ?15m.


Signs for Real Madrid

Real also have injury problems so may yet be forced to meet these demands. But the future of the player at Manchester United has ended after falling out with Sir Alex Ferguson. Ruud will be a Real Madrid player at the beginning of the 2006-07 season. The new coach of Real, Fabio Capello has publicly stated his admiration for the player. Ruud will also be relishing the chance to link up with the former England captain and Manchester United winger David Beckham, but unfortunately for the Spanish club, Manchester United had rejected an offer from Real Madrid. Sir Alex Ferguson said that the offer was an insult to them (Manchester United and Ruud).

Real Madrid announced on July 27, 2006, that Ruud van Nistelrooy has become a Real player. His transfer fee is reported to be ?15 million (?10.3m), and he is set to sign a 3-year contract with the club on 28th July.