Ruud van Nistelrooy

Ruud van Nistelrooy is a Dutch international footballer who currently features for the Spanish and European giants Real Madrid. He plays as a striker for both club and country and is considered as one of the best in the world in his position.

Van Nistelrooy was always destined to be one of the greatest goalscorers the game has ever produced. He started his club football at Dutch second division side FC Den Bosch as a central defender because of his height but was soon transformed into a center forward with amazing success.

One year later he was off to first division Heerenveen and after impressing with his new club, he was snapped up by PSV Eidhoven, He scored a whooping 31 goals in 34 matches for Eidhoven in the debut 1997-1998 season, thereby collecting the Dutch Player of the Year award.

Next season he scored 29 goals in the Dutch first division and was again the top scorer. In the summer of 2001, after a protracted transfer circus, Premiership giants Manchester United signed him. He stayed there for five heavily productive and goal-inundated seasons, netting 95 goals in 150 appearances for the Red Devils. Van Nistelrooy also holds the record for being United’s top scorer in European competitions.

In the summer of 2006, Real Madrid signed Ruud van Nistelrooy from Man United for 18 million euro on a three-year contract. He top scored in La Liga in his debut season, hitting the back of the opposition net no fewer than 25 goals and leading Real Madrid to their first La Liga triumph in four years.

The 2007-2008 season has not been so productive for van Nistelrooy as he have had to miss several matches due to recurring injuries.

Van Nistelrooy is very much a part of the Dutch national set-up and is set to feature for the Orange in the upcoming Euro 2008 finals in Austria and Switzerland in the summer. The Dutch goal machine has scored 39 goals in 50 matches of his country,