Erik ten Hag is not the only one at Manchester United that Ruud van Nistelrooy can help

You can almost hear the songs at Stretford End now, the noises that sounded like boos but meant the complete opposite. Ruud.

As a child of the nineties who avidly followed Manchester United in the nineties, it’s hard not to be excited by the prospect of Ruud van Nistelrooy returning to the club. From both a nostalgic and a football point of view, it makes total sense.

The current understanding is that the former United striker is considering joining Erik ten Hag’s coaching staff as first-team coach after stepping down as PSV Eindhoven manager last year. United called but Van Nistelrooy was also approached by Burnley for the top job at Turf Moor.

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The hope is that he will go with the red glasses and rekindle his affinity with United. Van Nistelrooy left Old Trafford under a cloud in 2006 after falling out with Sir Alex Ferguson, but retained his affection for the club despite this.

Speaking to Gary Neville in an interview with The Overlap, Van Nistelrooy said: “I felt the relationship we had (he and Ferguson) made me react in a way that I don’t feel. I had to apologize for that and (Ferguson) accepted it straight away. We kept in touch and then I felt the apology was worth it because the relationship was intact again.”

As well as that clear respect for United’s tradition and history, Van Nistelrooy would bring a wealth of experience should he return as part of the team behind the Ten Hag.

His coaching resume is quite impressive. Van Nistelrooy held positions in the Dutch national team and in PSV’s academy before becoming head of PSV directly.

That kind of knowledge and leadership skills will certainly help Ten Hag, who will frankly need all the help he can get at United next season, having just retained the manager’s job with a hair this summer.

Rasmus Hojlund is the most obvious player in the current squad who would benefit from Van Nistelrooy as a mentor.

The Dane enjoyed a promising debut season in difficult circumstances at United, scoring 16 goals in all competitions (10 in the league), but he needs to reach the next level. To do that, he needs to become more clinical and put himself in better positions to latch on to crosses and passes.

Who better than Van Nistelrooy to help him do that, but also to help the players delivering balls to Hojlund?

Among United’s biggest problems in the 2023/24 campaign has been creating chances for Hojlund. Compared to fellow standouts like Erling Haaland, Darwin Nunez and Nicolas Jackson, Hojlund was presented with precious few opportunities to find the back of the net in the final quarter. No wonder his goal tally was modest.

The likes of Alejandro Garnacho, Antony and Amad Diallo could use Van Nistelrooy’s expertise – and perspective as a former No 9 – to help them find Hojlund more often and in more dangerous positions. He knows where the forwards need the ball to bury it.

So, short of a transformative signing for the pitch this summer, United could hardly pull off a better recruitment drive than bringing in Van Nistelrooy as manager.

He has the package – and could make United’s forwards fire like he did in that famous red shirt 20 years ago. It would be the Ruud revival that the club is asking for.