Ruud van Nistelrooy, ranking third on the list and as the second highest Dutchman, signed from PSV Eindhoven for near £18m in 2001 after a year-long postponement due to a knee injury. It was a rare season of no silverware which ended the season for the deadly Dutchman but his sheer prolific nature in front of goal earns him a podium finish on this list. He began the season in fine form, scoring on his debut against Liverpool in the Charity Shield defeat whilst netting twice, including the winner on the opening day of the season in a 3-2 victory over Fulham. Van Nistelrooy was breaking records, scoring nineteen goals in the lead up to the New Year but he was made to wait until December 22nd for his first club hat-trick, in a 6-1 home win over Southampton. That game was the third of an eventual successive eight league games in which Van Nistelrooy had netted, a Premier League record. He would regain that record in 2003, scoring in ten successive games. He netted a total of 36 goals in his first season, with 23 coming in the league. He was one short of Thierry Henrys golden boot-winning 24 but with ten Champions League goals in fourteen games, he was the competitions top scorer. United lost out on the Premier League title on the penultimate day of the season with a loss at home to Arsenal and were eliminated on away goals in the Champions League semi-finals against Bayer Leverkusen. Despite these failures, it was a golden year for Ruud.
I am an aspiring journalist with a degree in Media Studies and a passion for all things sport -- especially football and Manchester United. I am a former season ticket holder at Old Trafford and have been a Red Devil since 1998.
