Daniel Taylor on how the United striker's combination of skill and steely resolve can make him a legend
Bobby Charlton describes Duncan Edwards as the only footballer who has ever made him feel inferior. Now, every day when Alex Ferguson goes to training, he knows how Charlton feels. A broken-nosed old centre-forward whose rugged style of play led him, in pre-management days, to christen the lounge of his Govan pub the Elbow Room, Manchester United's manager was remembering former days. "As an old striker I know myself the natural instinct when you are in on goal is sometimes just to belt the bloody thing," he said.
His voice softened. "But Ruud? Well, he's just got this incredible knack of knowing where the goalkeeper is, of knowing where to put the shot. He can place it, thwack it, whatever is needed. The guy's a natural. In a year or so I think he will be recognised as the best striker in Europe."
Comparing Ruud van Nistelrooy, six months into his United career, with Edwards, Charlton or anyone else in Old Trafford's hall of fame may be premature. Yet the 25-year-old Dutchman's imperious form invites comparisons.
"When I look at van Nistelrooy I see a born striker," Charlton said yesterday. "And, when one of those comes along, they can only grace our game. It is the hardest job in football, bar none, yet there are some people who seem to be born into the role. This is one of them. He's like Jimmy Greaves, Denis Law and, to a point, Michael Owen. As soon as he sees the goal he forgets everything else."
Great players recognise one another. In September Charlton, now 64, turned to a friend at Old Trafford and remarked that van Nistelrooy reminded him of Law. United were struggling in the league but Charlton liked what he saw of the new number 10. "He's got the potential to break all sorts of record here," he purred.
But perhaps even Charlton did not realise how quickly it would come about. Van Nistelrooy has matched his team's procession to the Premiership's summit with every stride. He has scored in seven consecutive matches, a Premiership record shared by Thierry Henry (2000-01), Alan Shearer (1996-97) and Mark Stein (1993-94). Of the quartet, only he and Stein have scored from open play in all seven games.
Should van Nistelrooy score against Blackburn Rovers at Old Trafford today he will not only hold the honour outright but will emulate the Munich victim Liam "Billy" Whelan's 45-year United record of scoring in eight successive games. Beyond that, Tom Phillipson's Football League record of scoring in 13 matches in a row for Wolverhampton Wanderers (1926-27) is a possibility.
Charity Shield included, Van Nistelrooy's 23 goals in 24 starts, with 13 in the past nine games and all coming from inside the penalty area, is a scoring ratio nearly twice that of any of United's modern-day strikers. Small wonder some of his team-mates are beginning to view him with the same fascination and wonder that Charlton used to have in the presence of Edwards.
"He's a predator, a genius," said Gary Neville. "This club has had some great strikers and Ruud is up there already. And the best thing is that he is just going to get better and better."
"Take it from me, this guy will be a legend at Old Trafford," Bobby Robson, the Newcastle manager and once van Nistelrooy's coach at PSV Eindhoven, ventured yesterday. "I spent a year working with this lad, seeing him at close quarters every day, and you can't find a fault. He's got everything. He's strong, he's got good energy levels, he's quick, he's got an eye for goal, an eye for a shot. He's just a top centre forward. And he's a great character, a gem of a boy. I always say the formula is talent plus personality, and he has got both."
A winning mentality requires steel and there is an uncompromising side, too, which often goes unnoticed. Van Nistelrooy has been educated to the Dutch philosophy that giving the ball away is a sin.
A practice junkie, he can be a control freak according to those closest to him. One team-mate described him this week as "more of a Keano than a Denis Irwin" in training sessions and it is a mentality that saw van Nistelrooy fall out spasmodically with PSV's coach Eric Gerets and, most acrimoniously, led to a disagreement with Louis van Gaal, the former Holland coach, which has yet to be resolved.
The story goes it began with a training-ground row, the day before Holland's final World Cup qualifier against Andorra. Van Nistelrooy could not reach a pass from Jaap Stam and is reputed to have shouted: "What kind of ball was that?" Stam shouted back: "That was your fault - you've got to work harder for the ball."
Van Gaal intervened on the side of Stam, and was so incensed by van Nistelrooy's vitriolic reaction that the striker was dropped for the match.
Others, however, talk of a willing pupil. Foppe de Haan, his coach at Heerenveen, remembers sending van Nistelrooy, then 21, to watch Holland's national team.
"I told him to ignore the rest of the game, just to concentrate on Dennis Bergkamp, watch his movement and tactics and see how important the brain can be in football. The great thing about Ruud is that he is always trying to better himself."
De Haan can also remember asking van Nistelrooy who his hero was, expecting him to name Johan Cruyff, Marco van Basten or another of the Dutch greats. "I would probably say Kofi Annan," replied the striker.
Despite their occasional differences, Gerets speaks warmly of how van Nistelrooy was always quick to deflect the credit on to his strike partner Luc Nilis, just as he has done recently with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer at United.
Ruud Gullit, Ronald Koeman, Gica Popescu, Ronaldo and Romario have all played for PSV, but it is a framed picture of van Nistelrooy, celebrating the 2000 title, which takes pride of place inside the Philips stadium. He is wearing the number eight shirt and the Dutch media called him "008 - Licence to Score".
"Scoring is his art, it's as simple as that," says Charlton. "He's good in the air, very fast, professional, a good team player; he's not afraid to chase about and he's been a huge success. It's easy to forget it's only a couple of years since he had a terrible knee injury."
In current form, indeed, van Nistelrooy is the greatest of them all.
