Man Utd must find a way to keep Van Nistelrooy at Old Trafford, says Meulensteen

Rene Meulensteen believes Manchester United must do everything in their power to keep Ruud van Nistelrooy at the club, amid Ruben Amorim’s impending arrival.

United confirmed the appointment of Sporting CP boss Amorim on Friday, four days after announcing they had parted ways with Erik ten Hag following a dismal run of form.

The Red Devils currently sit 14th in the Premier League after their first nine games of the season, and welcome Chelsea to Old Trafford this Sunday.

Van Nistelrooy, who joined Ten Hag’s coaching staff in July, oversaw his first game as interim boss in midweek, earning a 5-2 win over Leicester City in the EFL Cup.

Amorim will officially take charge on November 11, meaning the Dutchman will remain at the helm for United’s fixtures against Chelsea, PAOK and Leicester.

The Portuguese arrives at Old Trafford with an impressive resume, having guided Sporting to their first league title in 19 years, and winning the Primeira Liga again in 2023-24.

His 120 victories in the league give him a 76.92% win ratio, which is the best of any Sporting coach on record.

It’s done.

Bem-vindo ao Manchester United, Ruben Amorim #MUFC

— Manchester United (@ManUtd) November 1, 2024

But former United coach Meulensteen believes it is crucial Van Nistelrooy remains at the club, with his experience vital in helping Amorim understand the pressures of the job.

“I think the club will have to manufacture something. It’s very clear that Amorim wants to bring his own staff, which I think is very understandable,” Meulensteen told Stats Perform.

“He can look at it and say: ‘OK, Ruud has got some experience with the players, and he might be able to help me to tell me this and that and the other’.

“That’s the conversation he needs to have. If he doesn’t see a place for him in and around the first team, then he has to be clear about that as well.

“Because at the end of the day, if you see a little bit of what happened with Erik, let’s assume if Amorim had said: ‘listen I’m staying in Sporting, I’m not doing it, forget it’, then obviously we wouldn’t have these conversations.

“Then, it would have been a little bit more quiet, and I would have said to Ruud: ‘listen Ruud, you take over for now, right, and see how we go and see how you get on with it’.

“And if that, for instance, started to come off, Ruud would have given the board and Ineos and all those people enough confidence to say: ‘listen, I’ll be more than capable of carrying on with it’.

“Now they haven’t gone that way, so I can also understand if the manager says: ‘no, I don’t want anybody that I don’t know in that setup, because I really want to do my own thing’.

“Ruud made it clear he wants to stay and be part of it, so at least that’s a positive for the incoming manager. If the incoming manager has other plans, then the club has to find something different.”

Amorim will be United’s youngest boss since 33-year-old Wilf McGuinness took charge of them on Boxing Day 1970 against Derby County.

Since March 2020, when Amorim took charge, Sporting have the highest win percentage of any team across Europe’s top 10 leagues (77% – 120 wins out of 156 games).

His first game at the helm comes against Ipswich Town after the international break, but it remains to be seen whether Van Nistelrooy will remain alongside him.