In the 2000s, there wasn’t a better team in England than Manchester United.
That may be hard to believe these days considering that United are 16th in the Premier League as things stand, but 20 years ago or so, the Red Devils were the dominant force in England.
Indeed, United won trophy after trophy under Alex Ferguson, and they boasted some of the world’s best players around that time.
Cristiano Ronaldo was a superstar, Wayne Rooney was an all-time great, while Rio Ferdinand was incredible too.
However, according to Patrice Evra, speaking on SDS, there was one player at United who outperformed everyone else in training.
Patrice Evra names the best player in Manchester United training
According to Evra, the best player in Manchester United training was none other than Ruud van Nistelrooy.
Van Nistelrooy was an incredible striker for United, and according to Evra, the Dutchman was utterly brilliant in training.
“Who was the best in training? The most impressive?” Evra was asked.
“For me, Van Nistelrooy. If we could’ve recorded some of the goals he scored in training, seriously, it was unbelievable. The most dedicated I would say is Cristiano and the worst trainer was Carlos Tevez, he was sleepy, he didn’t want to train, but on the weekend he would run for everyone,” Evra said.
Ruud van Nistelrooy stats for Manchester United
Evra says that Van Nistelrooy was incredible in training, and those performances also carried over onto the pitch.
Indeed, the Dutchman wasn’t only shining at United’s training ground, he would always produce the goods at Old Trafford too.
George Best was a big fan of Van Nistelrooy, and it’s not hard to figure out why.
| Ruud van Nistelrooy stats for Manchester United | |
| Games | 219 |
| Goals | 150 |
| Assists | 28 |
Van Nistelrooy was an unbelievable goalscorer, and while United have had many amazing strikers over the years, he may have been the best of them.
Van Nistelrooy would ultimately leave United to join Real Madrid in 2006, continuing to score tons of goals in Spain before moves to Hamburg and Malaga later in his career.
As Evra says, Van Nistelrooy was a striker who certainly knew how to find the back of the net.
