The more accurate question would be – should Ruud Van Nilsterooy continue as an assistant coach to Ruben Amorim at Manchester United or should he move on?
The legendary Dutch striker and Man Utd legend officially joined the club as an assistant to Erik ten Hag in the summer, along with Rene Hake and Andreas Georgson to overhaul the the first team coaching setup.
After ten Hag was sacked on October 28th, Ruud took over as interim coach while the club pursued their top target, Ruben Amorim. Under the Dutch legend’s stewardship, united played some of the best football they have in over two years as they won three out of four games and drew against Chelsea.
The players played with a level of freedom and seemed to enjoy their football. This was reminiscent of the Ole era after sacking of Jose Mourinho. We all know how that ended.
The club has made the wise decision to not appoint an interim for the remainder of the season and instead appoint Amorim from Sporting, even if the timing was poor. While they have had to spend a huge sum of money, upwards of 25 million euros between sacking ten Hag and buying out Amorim’s contract, the trade offs make it worth the money.
That brings us to the main question at hand – What is next for Ruud Van Nilsterooy?
For starters, the Dutchman has himself made his wish clear of continuing as an assistant to Amorim. However, the Portuguese will be bringing his assistants from Sporting along with him.
So what would be Ruud’s role if he were to be retained?
The expectations from Amorim would be to quickly implement his ideas on the pitch and salvage the season. He would need to quickly familiarize himself with the players and the intensity of the Premier League if he intends to hit the ground running.
Having someone like Ruud as a bridge between the players and the head coach sounds promising. This could easily continue till the end of the season.
However, Ruud has also laid bare his ambition of one day being head coach of Manchester United. From his perspective, it would be better in the long run to become head coach of another team. The Bundesliga and the French Ligue sound ideal for him to gain further experience.
In the long run, Amorim would seek to communicate directly with the players along with his coaches. The presence of Ruud makes even less sense in this scenario.
I am sure Ruud, and some members in the Man Utd board as well as the first team, would love to see him continue. However, the decision should be solely left to the incoming head coach.
DribbleSensei opinion: Ruud should either coach the Manchester United reserves or move on to another league and gain experience. He definitely has what it takes to coach the club at some point in the future. But so do many other candidates.
Any role as assistant to Amorim has limited utility, both for the club and himself. While the allure of serving the club that made him a superstar is great, he is wasted as an assistant.
