Leicester hired Ruud van Nistelrooy as its manager on Friday following his impressive spell as interim coach at former club Manchester United that included two wins over his new team.
The 48-year-old Van Nistelrooy joined on a deal until June 2027 and will take over a team in fifth-to-last place in the English Premier League after promotion last season.
Van Nistelrooy, a former Netherlands striker who played club soccer for Man United and Real Madrid, joined United’s coaching staff in July as an assistant to compatriot Erik ten Hag. After Ten Hag was fired last month, Van Nistelrooy took charge on an interim basis and had three wins and a draw in his four games at the helm before Ruben Amorim was hired as Ten Hag’s full-time replacement.
Among those victories was a 5-2 thrashing of a weakened Leicester team in the English League Cup and a 3-0 win over the Foxes in the Premier League.
“I’m proud, I’m excited. Everybody that I speak to about Leicester is enthusiastic," Van Nistelrooy said.
This will be Van Nistelrooy’s second senior full-time managerial role, having led PSV Eindhoven for almost a season and winning the Dutch Cup before quitting near the end of the 2022-23 campaign.
“Ruud’s experience, knowledge and winning mentality will undoubtedly bring great value to us,” Leicester chairman Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha said, "and we look forward to supporting him in achieving success for our fans and our club.”
Leicester, which fired Steve Cooper last weekend after just two wins from its 12 league games so far, plays Brentford away on Saturday. Van Nistelrooy won't be in charge then but will be in attendance, with the team being led by first-team coach Ben Dawson.
Dawson said the departure of Cooper was “a little bit unexpected” and the players “shared some of that unexpectedness early in the week.”
He added the club’s hierarchy “dealt” with the fallout from a Christmas party that Leicester’s players had in Copenhagen last weekend, images of which have circulated on social media.
On one video, a sign bearing the words “Enzo I miss you” was carried around a nightclub where Leicester’s players were partying. Cooper’s predecessor was Enzo Maresca, who joined Chelsea in the offseason.
Cooper was fired a day after the party in Copenhagen.
British newspaper The Daily Telegraph reported this week that Leicester’s Thai owner, Aiyawatt, held a meeting with the players after being left disappointed by the footage.
“First and foremost, the lads had a couple of days off and it’s their decision what they do with their time off,” Dawson said. “The issue you mentioned, the club have dealt with pretty quickly early in the week. Everybody has moved on and the lads have been really professional and worked well.”
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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
Steve Douglas, The Associated Press
