By Emre Asikci
ISTANBUL (AA) – Dutch club PSV Eindhoven on Wednesday unveiled Ruud van Nistelrooy as their new manager.
Van Nistelrooy, 45, will take over from Roger Schmidt at the start of next season and has a contract through to 2025, the club said in a statement.
“It has always been my dream to be head coach at PSV,” said Van Nistelrooy, who played for PSV in the early days of his career, scoring 77 goals in 90 appearances.
“I was convinced I could pursue a professional coaching career and originally thought I needed one more year to gain experience. But sometimes things do go their way and you find out that life is not completely manageable. This is the right moment to take the next step.”
The Dutchman, considered one of the best strikers of his time, rose to global prominence with his move to Manchester United in 2001, where he spent five years and racked up 150 goals in 219 matches.
He won the Premier League and FA Cup under Sir Alex Ferguson’s charge and was the top scorer in the UEFA Champions League in three different seasons.
Real Madrid came calling for the forward in 2006 and he had a four-year spell with the Spanish giants, scoring 64 times in 96 games and winning two La Liga titles.
He played 70 games for the Dutch national side and netted 35 goals.
Van Nistelrooy was part of Frank de Boer’s coaching staff for the Netherlands at Euro 2020, having previously been assistant coach of the national team between 2014 and 2016.