Ruud van Nistelrooy was forced out at Manchester United by Ruben Amorim but has landed on his feet at Leicester and is grateful to have been joined by another ex-United coach
Ruud van Nistelrooy is delighted to have benefited from the coaching overhaul that followed Ruben Amorim’s arrival at Manchester United.
Van Nistelrooy was the interim United boss between the sacking of Erik ten Hag and the arrival of Amorim, but the ex-United striker was told his services were not needed once the Portuguese boss touched down in Manchester. He landed at Leicester shortly after, replacing the outgoing Steve Cooper, and immediately got to work establishing his coaching staff.
Amorim brought his Sporting Lisbon coaching staff with him to United, finding roles for Carlos Fernandes, Jorge Vital, Adelio Candido, Emanuel Ferro and Paulo Barreira. That influx saw Van Nistelrooy depart along with fellow Dutchmen Rene Hake, Jelle ten Rouwelaar and Pieter Morel.
Van Nistelrooy is a big fan of Ten Rouwelaar, who worked at Anderlecht and Burnley before joining United earlier this year as goalkeeping coach. The 43-year-old ex-goalkeeper has now been promoted at Leicester, where he is acting as Van Nistelrooy’s assistant as well as the goalkeeping coach.
Ten Rouwelaar helped improve Andre Onana during his time at Carrington and Van Nistelrooy believes he can help Leicester keeper Mads Hermansen take his game to the next level. The Leicester boss said: “He’s having a very good season overall. He makes a lot of saves, we’re trying to reduce that amount. Mads is all around. He’s a good shot-stopper, excellent footballer.
“He (Ten Rouwelaar) will make Mads better for sure. He’s worked with young talented goalkeepers and made them improve into the highest level. [Bart] Verbruggen is one of course, who he worked with at Anderlecht. He worked with Onana at United and I think he was in the best form of his life in the months he worked with Jelle.
“He’s a fantastic addition to the team. He’s not only improving the goalkeepers and playing out, but the players around the keeper to do better. Of course you need everyone to be involved in playing out from the back and that whole process he’s great at.”
United now have Vital as their goalkeeping coach under Amorim’s guidance. While many of Amorim’s coaching staff are young, Vital is an outlier at 65 years old. He is a former professional goalkeeper of 20 years and has worked with Amorim at Braga and Sporting previously.
Van Nistelrooy made a promising start to life at Leicester, overseeing a crucial 3-1 win over West Ham in his first game before a 2-2 draw against Brighton. But his side were thrashed 4-0 by Newcastle on Saturday, with Hermansen forced off with an injury, leaving Danny Ward to deputise.
Join our new MAN UTD WhatsApp communityand receive your daily dose of Manchester United content from Mirror Football. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don’t like our community, you can check out any time you like. If you’re curious, you can read our Privacy Notice.
Learn more
