Both before and after the injury he has been one of the most intensely monitored players
Both before and after the injury he has been one of the most intensely monitored players ever to come to England. Ferguson had him watched some 40 times before making PSV the original offer and he has closely followed his rehabilitation.His acquisition takes Ferguson's total outlay at Old Trafford above the £100m mark, which is not a lot considering the length of his tenure at United. Van Nistelrooy is the most expensive of all his purchases, although price itself is no guarantee of quality Ferguson's two cheapest buys were Peter Schmeichel and Denis Irwin.Had Ferguson's son, Darren, managed to phone his father 24 hours sooner, United might have saved themselves a lot of money. Darren was on trial with Heerenveen in 1998 when he advised Alex to buy."He said: 'Dad, you've got to sign this fellow, he's fantastic'," recalled Ferguson Snr "I sent over someone to watch him on the Saturday. He signed for PSV the following day." The fee was £4.2m, then a Dutch record.Three years on, and still only 24, Van Nistelrooy will bring undoubted quality. Although some have compared him to Marco van Basten, Ferguson drew similarities with a more surprising striker, Dion Dublin, because of the variety of goals Van Nistelrooy scores.
"Every time I have gone to watch him, I have seen something different," said the United manager."He has great presence on a football field, he has pace, a good positional sense and scores a lot of different goals; volleys, tap-ins and headers. The Dutch concentrate on developing the quality of a footballer and so if someone comes from Holland to a club like ourselves they have had very good preparation.Although he has spent three seasons at PSV Eindhoven, a club known as "the Manchester United of the Netherlands", Van Nistelrooy is now adjusting to the real thing. While calling the move a dream, he said: "I didn't grow up supporting Manchester United [he followed Tottenham]. But they have won many trophies playing fantastic football and there was not a choice to make It was easy.".
The relegation issue could be decided today with the Citys, Bradford, Coventry and Manchester, dropping out of the Premiership should they fail to win. Since this scenario also requires an implausible quartet of victories from Derby County, Everton, Middlesbrough and West Ham the agony may be prolonged in some quarters but, by mid-May, three teams will be facing a loss of senior status. The relegation issue could be decided today with the Citys, Bradford, Coventry and Manchester, dropping out of the Premiership should they fail to win. Since this scenario also requires an implausible quartet of victories from Derby County, Everton, Middlesbrough and West Ham the agony may be prolonged in some quarters but, by mid-May, three teams will be facing a loss of senior status. Relegation is never pleasant, but going down this year will be more painful than ever before. It was recently revealed that the clubs demoted two years ago, Charlton, Nottingham Forest and Blackburn Rovers, suffered an average £7.2m drop in profitability between them. With new television and sponsorship deals kicking in, that figure could be trebled next season as the income gap between Premiership and First Division becomes a chasm.
