Man United legend Ruud van Nistelrooy reveals words from Ruud Gullit and Michael Jordan played a key role in his success as a player

Ruud van Nistelrooy has revealed that words from Ruud Gullit and basketball icon Michael Jordan played a big role in his rise to the top

Van Nistelrooy established himself as one of Europe’s top goalscorers during spells with the likes of United and Real Madrid.  

He remains the sixth highest scorer in Champions League history and has given fans an insight in to the sportsmen that inspired him

Speaking on his career, Van Nistelrooy said: ‘I had been signed by Heerenveen, a club in the north of the Netherlands. 

‘And one day Ruud Gullit was coming over to watch our team in training. I was a young striker and obviously, I wanted to make a bit of an impression, so I started to do all fancy tricks, scoring with a back-heel, with a chip and all sorts.

‘But Gullit said, ‘What on earth are you doing in the box? Just bang it in. You receive the ball and you hit it, straight and fast. Don’t try to do all this difficult stuff. Apart from that, you are not a bad little player’. The day Gullit pulled me aside, I thought, ‘If Gullit tells me this, I’d better bang every ball near my feet in the net.’

Van Nistelrooy also credits Chicago Bulls great Jordan with an indirect piece of wisdom which served him well.

He added: ‘I played at a small club in the Netherlands, called FC Den Bosch, in the south of the country.

‘As a young player, I wrote down in a notebook the things I wanted to achieve in my life. You can play at a small club, but if you have goals or targets, you know you can go far in your career. People used to tell me, ‘You’d better work hard at school and try your best because with your football, it’s not going to work’. 

‘But I had read that Michael Jordan had said that there is a much bigger chance that your goals in life become real when you write them down. Apparently, it worked, because I started at the small amateur club in my village of Geffen and I ended up at Manchester United and Real Madrid.’ 

Ruud Gullit told Van Nistelrooy to focus on putting the ball in the net in his younger years