Ruud van Nistelrooy is on course to add to his Leicester City coaching staff with former Manchester City Under-21s boss Brian Barry-Murphy set to join.
Van Nistelrooy has said Barry-Murphy will arrive as “assistant coach” and will be the second new staff member to follow the Dutchman to City. The manager brought his Manchester United colleague Jelle ten Rouwelaar with him as assistant/goalkeeping coach.
Barry-Murphy comes in after three years with Man City’s development squad. He was Enzo Maresca’s successor there and followed up the Italian’s title in 2021 with two more in 2022 and 2023. Last season, in Premier League 2’s new format, they finished 23rd in the 26-team table.
Prior to that, Barry-Murphy was manager of Rochdale. Two seasons running, he guided them to safety in League One, but they were relegated in his final year in charge. As a player, the Irishman was a defensive midfielder, his clubs including Preston, Sheffield Wednesday and Bury.
Van Nistelrooy said at his press conference on Tuesday: “It’s not official yet, but it’s 99.9 per cent done on the contract. I’m very happy to add him to the coaching team.
“It’s a very important factor in the translation of the game model to the pitch and developing the team, the units and the individual, to the max. He’s excellent at that, so I’m very happy we can add him to the team.”
When van Nistelrooy arrived, he retained three members of Steve Cooper’s coaching staff. They are first-team coach Ben Dawson, set-piece coach Andy Hughes and goalkeeper coach Danny Alcock.