Leicester City Training Session and Press Conference
Ruud van Nistelrooy will manage Leicester for the first time against West Ham this week (Picture: Getty)
Newly appointed Leicester head coach Ruud van Nistelrooy says he was ‘astonished’ by the heightened level of interest in his services on the back of his brief stint in charge of Manchester United.
The Foxes officially confirmed the appointment of Van Nistelrooy last Friday following Steve Cooper’s dismissal at the King Power Stadium, with the club languishing down in 16th place in the Premier League.
It comes after Van Nistelrooy’s four-match tenure as United’s interim manager came to an end, with Ruben Amorim taking over the reins from the Dutchman at Old Trafford last month.
Van Nistelrooy, a prolific goalscorer during his playing days, led the Red Devils to three wins and a draw after picking up the pieces from Erik ten Hag – who he had previously worked under as an assistant.
Having watched on from the stands as Leicester were beaten 4-1 away to Brentford at the weekend, the former Netherlands striker will be desperate to start life with a positive result against West Ham tomorrow night.
‘To be managing this club and this group of players and to be representing Leicester City in the Premier League, for me I’m very excited and proud to be able to get the opportunity,’ Van Nistelrooy told reporters at his first pre-match press conference this afternoon.
‘The conversations that I had, two times I flew out to London to speak with the owner and director and they were very good conversations.
‘It was important to get to know each and to know what the ideas were, together, on the same page and we were both very excited to start working together.’
Leicester City FC v Chelsea FC - Premier League
Cooper was sacked by Leicester last month (Picture: Getty)
Van Nistelrooy was taken aback by the amount of ‘options that came along’ following his interim spell with United, considering his previous success with PSV Eindhoven.
‘To be fair, what happened after the games and the amount of interest that was, all of a sudden, there for me, and the options that came along, I was astonished a little bit by it,’ he added.
‘I thought, “Well, it’s four games and I’ve managed a full season at PSV, able to win the cup and the Johan Cruyff Shield”, and the year before in the championship with the young PSV.
‘I’ve been in coaching and the Under-19s before with the national team and it never got this reaction from the football world so apparently it provoked these reactions and I was only happy with that. To get into conversations with different parties and be able to make a decision, that felt really good for me. And now I’m here.’
Manchester United FC v Leicester City FC - Premier League
Van Nistelrooy impressed as United’s interim manager (Picture: Getty)
Van Nistelrooy lifted the lid on talks he had with ‘great friend’ Enzo Maresca before his appointment at Leicester.
‘When the first approach was there, you’re going to think about the club and the players and the set up and the training ground and all these questions you have,’ he continued.
‘You’re also curious about the people who work there and, of course, Enzo being a great friend and former team-mate, he was the first one to call and what better information could I get. To be fair, when we played against each other during my interim spell at United against Chelsea, half an hour we spoke and I didn’t know yet about Leicester.
‘But we spoke about it and he was already quite positive, very positive actually, so that only got better when I spoke to him. I have to say that he was absolutely right according to the first impressions that I get.’
The iconic ex-United and Real Madrid forward joked that he and Jamie Vardy had a ‘big issue’ after the veteran Leicester striker broke his record for consecutive Premier League goals nine years ago this week.
‘It’s a problem, of course, that he broke my record so that’s what told him straight away,’ he went on.
‘I said, “Listen, we have a big issue here that we have to get out of the way before we can even start together”, so, no, that was the first thing that I actually said to him so I beat him from commenting on it.
‘Of course, back in the time I made a tweet about breaking the record and wishing him well and then nine years later, I think on the day, it’s weird how things go sometimes. But good stories.’
For more stories like this, check our sport page.
Follow Metro Sport for the latest news on Facebook,Twitter and Instagram.
MORE: Enzo Maresca says Chelsea ‘cannot compete’ with Liverpool, Arsenal and Man City
MORE: Premier League captain refuses to wear LGBTQ+ rainbow armband
MORE: Ruben Amorim wants ‘explosive’ Manchester United star to stay