Ruud van Nistelrooy provides update on long-term Man Utd future

Ruud van Nistelrooy insists he’s not yet thinking about a long-term future at Manchester United after steering the Red Devils to a vital Europa League win over PAOK.

The Dutchman’s interim reign has now delivered two wins and a share of the spoils with Chelsea, with Ivory Coast forward Amad Diallo the two-goal hero for United as they earned their first win in Europe since beating FC Copenhagen 1-0 in a Champions League group stage clash in October 2023.

Ruben Amorim arrives as United’s new head coach on Monday but must first take charge of his final game as Sporting CP boss, while Van Nistelrooy has another Premier League game to control before handing over to Amorim – Leicester City the opponents once more after being drubbed in the Carabao Cup in the former striker’s first game as interim manager.

Van Nistelrooy was quizzed about his long-term future after United’s latest victory, but gave little away about potentially working alongside Amorim when asked if the two had spoken.

“I think that Ruben, what he is saying, his focus is on [Sporting against] Braga and I focus on Leicester,” Van Nistelrooy said.

“I think that’s a great one for now. And that shows that we’re focused on the day-by-day job and get the maximum out of the team. So let him focus on Braga, I’ll focus on Leicester. I will see after that.

“I’m only busy with one thing in my mind. I want my last game as an interim, I want to prepare it as good as I can and give the players everything they need to get the best performance out of them and, hopefully, get three very important games keep them at Old Trafford and that’s my absolute focus. And other than that, I don’t look too far ahead to be really honest, it’s too important.”

Van Nistelrooy also spoke about United’s laboured first half performance which saw them create very few opportunities, and the impact of eventual match winner Amad.

“First half wasn’t good, that’s clear, a very good point. I think we created hardly anything and PAOK neither, they didn’t create a lot, so in that sense, we were okay,” Van Nistelrooy remarked.

“But we didn’t get going. I think our possession wasn’t good enough, we made many tactical mistakes, our shape wasn’t good, it was, at times, not low enough and, every time, in that shape that we wanted to play.

“Second half, we were a lot better, we persisted in finding Casemiro and [Manuel] Ugarte in front of the defence, or Amad and Bruno [Fernandes] in the no.10 positions and that’s why we started playing better and creating more chances and getting the better of the game, playing in their half more.

“And as you said, Amad made the difference there with two good goals.”