Van Nistelrooy is the problem Amorim didn’t need

Robin Bairner

• Updated: 11 Nov 2024 10:38 CST
• 3 min read

Ruben Amorim takes the Manchester United head coach job this week facing one big problem that he didn’t expect: Ruud van Nistelrooy.

When Amorim accepted the Man Utd job just a couple of weeks ago, it seemed they were a club that couldn’t get any worse. Languishing in the league and struggling in Europe, it seemed he was about to pick the club up at its lowest ebb in over 35 years.

His arrival at Old Trafford, though, was crucially stalled as the Red Devils refused to pay Sporting CP a full compensation package to release him from his duties in Portugal. It may be a decision that the directors live to regret.

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Instead of being compared to the hapless Erik ten Hag, he will now be held up in comparison to the man who could have taken the job: Van Nistelrooy.

Van Nistelrooy, of course, is a former favourite of the Old Trafford crowd yet crucially it is his spell as interim manager that has the potential to make him such a thorn in Amorim’s side. He won three of his four games in charge, with United scoring 11 goals and conceding only three. By any measure, it was a very good return.

Early pressure on Amorim

Suddenly, though, this is the yardstick for Amorim for the next month or two. He’s not taking over a club in trouble; he’s taking over one in genuinely decent form.

While there will be a degree of understanding that results might slip as he settles in and, in all likelihood, tinkers with the system, the patience that he would have been afforded will just have been eroded a little due to Van Nistelrooy’s exploits.

And there is also the thorny issue over the Dutchman’s immediate future. He’s said he wants to remain at Man Utd, but how can he fit into Amorim’s plans given the very precise way of thinking the Portuguese has and the fact that he’s about to arrive with a raft of staff from Sporting he both knows and trusts?

Equally, the optics of sacking someone who’s just got Man Utd back on an even keel, playing the type of high-scoring football the fans love, are not great.

None of this would have been a problem if Van Nistelrooy had only had a game or two to fill the void, yet it all feels very different for Amorim after the successful four-game burst.