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Matthijs de Ligt has insisted he wants Ruud van Nistelrooy to stay at Manchester United, with Ruben Amorim set to officially take charge of the team on Monday.
Van Nisterlrooy oversaw his final match as caretaker manager on Sunday, as United cruised to a 3-0 victory over Leicester City at Old Trafford.
A Bruno Fernandes screamer, an own goal from Victor Kristiansen and a wonderful curling finish from Alejandro Garnacho were all United required to secure all three points and grab just their fourth Premier League victory of the season.
Ahead of Amorim’s arrival, the elephant in the room is what will happen to Van Nistelrooy.
Van Nistelrooy has repeatedly indicated he wants to return to his assistant coach role and be part of Amorim’s backroom staff. In his presser after the meeting with Leicester, the 48-year-old told reporters that a final decision on his future will be communicated either today or tomorrow.
Amidst all this, De Ligt has revealed that he would love to see Van Nistelrooy stay as he knows the club well and has had an impact on the players.
De Ligt said [via Manchester Evening News], “I can only speak of my experience and I think he was really valuable as an assistant. As a manager, he knows the club. Obviously he knows what gets asked for with certain players, together with the crowd also.”
“So yeah, in my opinion [I’d like him to stay], but in the end it’s the decision of the manager [Amorim].”
“I think in four games, you get 10 points [one win was the Carabao Cup]. That’s really good, it’s important. Obviously we scored a lot of goals, we didn’t concede much, yeah, so it was a successful short spell.”
Despite winning three and drawing one of the four games he has overseen, De Ligt remarked that Van Nistelrooy hasn’t changed much from Erik ten Hag.
“I don’t think he changed so much. The difference was with Erik, we had games that we played really well in, like West Ham away, with eight 200 per cent chances and we didn’t score.”
“I mean, the Leicester game, in the first game [in the Carabao Cup], we got five goals. Five goals that are like a shot from 30 meters, that back pass, a free-kick in the wall. Sometimes in football, it’s quite strange because sometimes luck takes over. And I think, obviously it’s a big compliment to Ruud, but also I think for Eric, it wasn’t that something big changed, it’s just that the momentum changed.”
“And if the momentum changes, everybody gets more confident than you and you start to win games, it’s as simple as that.”
Featured image Carl Recine via Getty Images