Gary Neville Reveals The Two Manchester United 'Certainties' He Knew Would Be Successful

Manchester United has revealed he knew that both Wayne Rooney and Ruud van Nistelrooy would be successful at the club, hailing the pair as "two certainties".

An 18-year-old Rooney joined United from boyhood club Everton on deadline day in 2004 in a £26 million move.

There was huge pressure on the youngster given the price tag but he had already demonstrated his quality on the big stage with a slew of sublime displays for England at Euro 2004.

Image: PA

And having played in the same team as him at England, Neville had a strong incline that Rooney was going to achieve big things at United.

With Van Nistelrooy, Neville hadn't seen much of the Dutchman but he was quickly left in awe when he saw him during shooting drills after signing from PSV Eindhoven.

"There were two certainties," Neville said on a transfer special on Sky Sports.

"The one who I already knew was Wayne Rooney. It wasn't even a risk, you just knew he would be absolutely unbelievable.

“Even though we had to wait for him to make his debut because he was injured, I never thought it would be a risk.

The other one I didn't know but we spent a lot of money on him and it was Ruud van Nistelrooy.

“The first time I watched him in training, he did a shooting session and hit one and I went, ‘woah, you can't kick a ball like that’.

“Sometimes you see things in training and just think to yourself, ‘that's a proper player’.

“That was Ruud. He was the one who I didn't know beforehand that I looked at straightaway in training and thought he was unbelievable.”

Van Nistelrooy, who joined in 2001 after the move was put off for a year following the striker suffering an ACL injury.

But that didn't derail him in the slightest as Van Nistelrooy proceeded to bang in 150 goals in 219 games as he established himself as one of the deadliest finishers in the game.

Image: PA

Meanwhile Rooney spent 13 glorious years at United, winning five Premier League trophies and becoming the club's all-time record goalscorer with a ridiculous 253 goals.

Neville was indeed right about both players but did also name Juan Sebastian Veron and Diego Forlan as two players whose shortcomings at Old Trafford he could not have predicted.

The South American pair had good careers overall but never quite cut it at United.

Topics: Gary Neville, Manchester United, Ruud Van Nistelrooy, Wayne Rooney

Josh Lawless

Josh is a sports journalist who specialises in football and wrestling. He has been published by Curzon Ashton FC, Late Tackle, Manchester City FC, The Mirror, Read Man City and Manchester Evening News. He provides coverage of professional wrestling and has interviewed some of the biggest names in the field - including the first UK interview with The Hardy Boyz after their return to WWE. He has never sported a pair of Lonsdale Slip-ons, contrary to reports.

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