Manchester United dressing room's stance on Ruud van Nistelrooy's future speaks volumes
Ruud van Nistelrooy has been in interim charge of Manchester United and the squad are keen for him to remain part of the group despite doubts over whether he'll feature in Ruben Amorim's staff
Manchester United's players are desperate for Ruud van Nistelrooy to remain amid the uncertain surrounding his future.
The Dutchman arrived in the summer and was Erik ten Hag's assistant, before becoming the interim boss following his sacking. Van Nistelrooy will take charge of this fourth and final game this weekend against Leicester - and then it'll be over to Ruben Amorim.
The Sporting Lisbon boss will have to decide whether he keep Van Nistelrooy as part of his staff. Amorim will bring with some of his staff with him ahead of his first game in charge at Ipswich Town later this month.
United's former striker turned coach, who has been a head coach at PSV recently, has won two of his three matches in charge thus far. His opening game saw them smash five past Leicester in the Carabao Cup and Andre Onana has underlined the dressing room desire to have Van Nistelrooy remain.
The goalkeeper told TNT Sports : "100%. He's a very good guy, a very good coach. He has so much experience and he advises us a lot. It's fantastic what he's doing and the players are happy. But at the end of the day, it's not something we can decide. The club make the decision and we have to accept it."
Van Nistelrooy has revealed that he's yet to hear from Amorim, who is in the midst of his final week as Sporting boss with one more game to come. The 48-year-old though insists his focus is on the team despite being in the dark over his future.
He said on Thursday: "I’ve got to check my phone now [to see if Amorim has messaged] – we’ll see later. I think that Rúben is focusing on Braga and I focus on Leicester. That’s it for now and it shows we are focused on the day-by-day job. Let him focus on Braga and I focus on Leicester and we’ll see after that. I’m only busy with one thing in my mind.
“I want my last game as an interim – to prepare this the best I can and give the players everything. That is my absolute focus and other than that I don’t look too far ahead. It’s too important.”
Van Nistelrooy was able to end United's year-long wait for a European win when they saw off PAOK in the Europa League. No concrete decisions have been taken on how Amorim's backroom team will look, but the incoming head coach does want to bring in five of his colleagues from Sporting.
That includes his long-time assistants Carlos Fernandes and Adelio Candido, as well as the experienced Emanuel Ferro who operates in that role. If they all come from Portugal it may be difficult to see where the Dutch coach fits in.
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