Milan set for Ruud swoop

Peter Spencer

May 29, 2006

GOAL HERO: Van Nistelrooy celebrates his Holland strike

RUUD van Nistelrooy is doing his talking on the pitch as AC Milan prepare to make a bid for the out-of-favour United striker.

Van Nistelrooy scored the only goal of the game as Holland beat Cameroon in a World Cup warm-up friendly in Rotterdam.

The striker would not discuss his Old Trafford future after the match, but looks sure to be on his way out of United as a result of a public fall-out with Sir Alex Ferguson.

Milan are ready to make a é10m-plus approach for the Dutch striker, with Andriy Shevchenko set to leave the Italian giants for Chelsea.

And Ferguson will put the cash from a van Nistelrooy deal towards a renewed effort to land é25m-rated midfielder Mahamadou Diarra from Lyon.

He can add that to the é10m in compensation United are due to receive from Chelsea over the John Obi Mikel saga. United have agreed to let Nigerian teenager Mikel break the contract he signed with the Reds to move to Stamford Bridge from Norwegian outfit Lyn Oslo.

Mali powerhouse Diarra remains United's No 1 target as Fergie bids to find a long-term replacement for Roy Keane. At 25, the Lyon midfielder fits the profile perfectly.

But it is Shevchenko's impending departure from Milan that will set in motion the transfer chain. The Ukrainian striker has attempted to appease Milan fans by publishing an open letter on his website to emphasise how he has struggled to reach his decision to leave Italian football.

Decision

He confirmed at the weekend he wanted to leave Milan and the club's vice-president Adriano Galliani announced the Rossoneri would begin talks with Chelsea.

Shevchenko wrote: "It has been a hard decision but I feel this is the right moment to think about my family and my children as they are the most important thing in my life."

The striker also paid tribute to Silvio Berlusconi, the former Italian Prime Minister who owns Milan, and to Galliani.

He then added: "But most of all this is a message to my fans to whom I ask to accept my decision.

"I have read your messages in the last few days and a lot of them have made me very emotional.

"I understand your disappointment and your sadness but I ask you to accept my choice as a man."

His departure would give Milan the money to bid for van Nistelrooy, whose future at Old Trafford has been in doubt ever since he was left out of United's Carling Cup final line-up against Wigan.

Van Nistelrooy will this week continue his World Cup preparations with Holland. Marco van Basten's men have two more warm-up games - against Mexico on Thursday and Australia on Sunday - before their World Cup Group C opener against Serbia in Leipzig on June 11.

Serbia - favourites to finish bottom of Group C - were held to a 1-1 draw by Uruguay on Saturday.

Dejan Stankovic opened the scoring but Diego Godin equalised.

We you accept Van Nistelrooy's departure if Diarra arrived? Have your say.

| Submit Comments | Comments (132) |

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S Peder, Norway (29/05/2006 at 09:28)

10 mill for Van and 10 mill for Obi Mikel... 25 mill for Diarra, well, that leaves us still whith alot of cash to use... maybe 20 mill? So add another midtfielder and another striker, then we are all set and ready to go!

Aaron M., Manchester (29/05/2006 at 09:32)

I want your feedback. I have had the absolute pleasure of watching Landon Donovan the last two American friendlies and he would be a perfect replacement for the Scholes role. He is plays an attacking midfield role but knows how to defend, plus his pace and touch is unbelievable for a midfielder. I know he failed in Germany but that had a lot to do with the language. He would be one that would jump at the chance to play for ManU and we could probably get him for less that 4 million. He's been the USA player of the year for the last two years. Thats over McBride, Keller, Friedel and Covey. The dude is a stud. Any thoughts?

Nikolai, Norway (29/05/2006 at 09:34)

What good would that do? Should we play Diarra out of position also? He's no striker. If Sheva goes to chelsea it doesen't matter what we do.

Wilson, Hong Kong (29/05/2006 at 09:34)

Now, Chelsea funds us to buy Diarra. Where does our "unlimited" transfer fund go? Please act quickly and get what the club needs as soon as possible.

Fredrik, Sweden (29/05/2006 at 09:37)

This is going from bad to worse. We need longterm replacements for not only Keane, but also for Scholes and Giggs. Diarra is a fine player but he's not worth 24m, Mikel might have been a star in making and a replacement for Scholes and now we let him go to Chelsea. Park and Richardson are not good enough to play for us, so ideally we would need someone like Duff/Ribery/Malouda.I agree that Ruud's best years are behind him but I don't want to enter a new season with Rossi and Smith as backup to Rooney and injury-prone Saha. Smith will never be 15+ goals a season striker and Rossi despite all his talent has only one PL start under his belt. What is going on??? At least and last we can look forward to Fergie's last season at OT. Why not snap up O'Neill before he joins Boro?? I'm just so frustrated, nothing seems to be going our way.

Johniejohn, tunbridge wells (29/05/2006 at 09:37)

Good luck Ruud. Stam had a great career at AC Milan too. This whole matter is a cynical engineered ploy to raise money for transfers as there is no fabled glazer gold. Ruud is the same age as Shevshenko and just as effective. And Ruud must be twice as good as andy johnson. Would laugh if Ronaldo does go to Spain. Not getting on with work colleagues is never the main reason for getting rid of someone. I bet Rooney could slag everyone off and still stay in the team.

DC, Amsterdam (29/05/2006 at 09:39)

The whole thing stinks. Even Sheva's 'letter' to his fans. 'It's a hard decision but at this time in my life I have to think of ????????????????????, he he he!!!' Tell me, why are we gonna sell the best striker the club has seen in years?

Robert, South Africa (29/05/2006 at 09:46)

I'd much rather he stay than go, there are very few available finishers of his calibre that won't cost the Earth.

In fact the only 1 I can think off with nearly enough ability is Huntelaar from Ajax(nobody mention Torres, he's overrated )

He also contributes something different to the team in the same way Saha, Rooney and Rossi all contribute in different ways.

So I do really hope he stays if not, thanks for the 150 goals Ruud!

Naresh, Malaysia (29/05/2006 at 10:04)

Barring Heinze, Park and Vidic, Man Utd has not been able to do any value-for-money business in the transfer market. Getting rid of Keane and RVN on the cheap shows that SAF has lost the plot...somebody needs to call this terrorisk to account. Only way he can redeem himself, is if he swaps RVN for Kaka and gets $10 million or Gatusso. He needs to get Carrick, Nolan, Reo Coker and Lennon...I hope when SAF says there are no English talents available it's because he is Scottish or he does not want to tip other suitors of his interest. SAF's rolling contract should end this season if he cannot get the right players in.

Nikolai, Norway (29/05/2006 at 10:04)

It seems Juve is preparing for relagation. And the are to sell their most expensive players. The list was Trezegue, Emerson, Zambrotta, vieira, Buffon and Zlatan. This would be a great chance to get some quality in to our team. I think Trezegue and Vieira would do just fine... Are you up for this one fergie???

Tooth&Claw, On the move (29/05/2006 at 10:11)

Landon Donovon isn't premiership standard.

Simon Smith, Salford (29/05/2006 at 10:24)

After going back I forth on this issue, if Ruud still wants to be a United player, I personally don't he should go. But if he did end up going, it wouldn't be so bad if we got Kaka in return! Ruud is amazing but United always have and always will score goals. It's just that Ruud is like having a guarantee. But the 10mil there talking about is a joke! How can Andy Johnson be worth ??8.5m, Shevchenko ??30m and Ruud only 10m? If we did that we'd be fools.

Cliff, Bolton (29/05/2006 at 10:30)

Have supported ManU for 50 years and I think Fergie is losing the plot with his attitude to people. Ruud has been a good player for the club and I wouldn't like to see him leave

Derrick, Bournemouth (29/05/2006 at 10:34)

Staam, Becks and now Ruud. This should be third strike and out for SAF. The guy had it but has now lost it, like a modern day Nero, but not just fiddling while OT goes into melt down, he is actually conducting the fire sales, wrecking all that has been built. We once had an envied youth policy producing a conveyor belt of fine footballers, and the money to squander on bad buys. Now all we have is the last few decent players for SAF to continue to sell off cheap to strengthen our rivals at home and in Europe. What will be left when he makes the 20 year mark?

dennis liew, malaysia (29/05/2006 at 10:35)

we are short of the following players for the new season.
1.back-up gk:either promote foster or buy the polish keeper.
2.rb backup:young
3.lw starter:ribery
4.dm:diarra and boatang(free)
5.am:riqulme and landon
6.striker:ibrahimavis
these additions will help us win the trophies.

Gandalf, Waterford (29/05/2006 at 10:41)

Please, please don't mention Gattuso in the Ruud to Milan equation. He's simply past it in my view; he never lasts 90 minutes nowadays, he tends to run around for about 70 (if your lucky), he knocks lots of people over and then just stands on front of them snarling 'getta upa'! We should be bringing in quality so if any Milan player comes into the exchange question, it should be someone like Kaka. That said, the whole Ruud situation is a shame...

bobbydazzler, lowton (29/05/2006 at 10:52)

t&c for once i agree with you

Red Devil, Belgium (ex UK) (29/05/2006 at 10:53)

Sorry to see Ruud go, but Diarra would soften the blow. According to Sky Sports we are moving for Ribery. This would be a very good move, but I would be happier if we also went for Lennon. Fergie has one last chance to get it right.

David Kelly, Dublin (29/05/2006 at 10:56)

United should not take less than 20 million if they are stupid enough to sell him. Add that to 10 million for Mikel plus our original 30 million budget, that means we have 60 million to spend.
I agree with the previous texter, it is not just Keanes position that has to be looked at. We need a complete overhaul of the squad, 5 or 6 top players. Scholes and Giggs are definitely on a downward spiral and need to be replaced. Whether we can trust Fergie to buy well is questionable.

Ry Fellowes, Glasgow (29/05/2006 at 11:30)

ah kinds getting carried away as usual are we? now lets just have a sit down, relax maybe make yourself a nice brew put the telly on for a while and then come back to this, it always amazes me how we always seem to go a little over the top and not really think things through here... lets just think about the last times that fergie has tried to buy the title and i mean really spent big, lets see veron, van nistelrooy and look what happened there great players dont always make great teams. there is no way we can compete with chelsea if were going to try and buy our way to the title, lets face it diarra and riquelme or whoever the latest fad for us to jump on isnt really ballack and shevchenko is it? were not gonna win the league next year so we may as well try and build for the future and create a team that can challenge consistently. we have an excellent youth system and with a few right buys that doesnt mean some guy whos had a good season or you saw on championship manager, we will have a great team in time just believe and stop acting like an impatient child with add

Graham, Manc (29/05/2006 at 11:58)

I agree with Ry from Glasgow in that we're never going to win the premiereship again in the next few years. We just can't compete with Chelsea. But I don't agree that we have an excellent youth system. It is our youth system that has failed us in recent times. The only players since Gary Neville's era that we've produced are O'Shea and Fletcher. Need I say more? Quite simply, our scouting system is awful. You only have to look at Arsenal to see the difference in terms of promising youth. Rooney is committed to United but I fear he is going to be another great player who wins very little. We need to buy Reo Coker, Carrick and Lennon. But we'll end up paying too much for Diarra, and then a couple of other mediocre players. Too much mediocrity - sell Fletcher, Miller, Silvestre, Evra, O'shea - rubbish!

Frank, Old Trafford (29/05/2006 at 11:59)

Ruud won't do anything until after the WC, maybe he's hoping that United will get rid of Fergie? If Juve get demoted then the whole transfer market will be blown wide open with so many top players suddenly available. This should be to our advantage if buying but against us if selling. I don't think we'll get anyone from Juve but it should weaken Lyon's bargaining position and we could get a better price for Diarra.

mark, salford. (29/05/2006 at 12:06)

in my opinion ruud is a better player than shevchenko any day.
FRED IN SWEDEN RICHARDSON IS A BRILLIANT PLAYER AND SCORES GOALS AND IS A GOOD YOUNG GIFTED PLAYER THAT SHOULD HAVE GONE TO THE WORLD CUP HE IS MADE FOR THE LEFT WING,AND HE SCORED SOME BRILLIANT GOALS IN THE USA.SVEN DIDNT THINK TWICE ABOUT TAKING HIM THE THE STATES BUT SAID NO FOR HIM AT THE WORLD CUP,AND HES A PROVEN PLAYER TOO.
gLAD WHEN SVENS GONE AND FERGIE HAS GOT TO GO TOO.

reds4ever, pontefract, west yorkshire (29/05/2006 at 12:20)

The issue is not who do we buy or who do we sell. The issue is who should be in charge at OT next season and more importantly who should be allowed to disburse the 30 million quid we apparently have to spend. I have read that Juve are preparing for relegation and if that is true then we should move for their head coach and let him spend the dosh!

Jason, Toronto (29/05/2006 at 12:23)

I agree with Fredrick,I'm not comfortable with just Rooney and Injury prone Saha upfront and with Rossi as backup.Plus selling RVN for just 10 M,that is dirt cheap.I would expext something atleast 15-18 M for him. No disrespect to SAF but with his current attitude it would be difficult to get good players to sign for Man U.

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