Leicester City have confirmed Ruud van Nistelrooy has left the King Power Stadium by mutual consent after joining the Foxes from Manchester United midway through last season.
Van Nistelrooy returned to United last summer to join Erik ten Hag’s coaching staff as INEOS sought to overhaul the dugout at Old Trafford.
The club had reached the decision to extend Ten Hag’s contract by twelve months following a comprehensive end-of-season review after a dismal campaign for the Red Devils.
Initially, United had chosen to dismiss the Dutch manager and sounded out potential replacements, including Ruben Amorim, but reversed their decision after these negotiations proved unsuccessful.
This led to Van Nistelrooy’s appointment as an assistant to Ten Hag in a bid to bring more personality and fresh ideas to the training pitch at Carrington.
But it was to little avail as United began last season in a similar vein to the previous campaign. By the end of October, INEOS had reached breaking point and, for the second time that year, chose to sack Ten Hag – except this time they followed through.
Van Nistelrooy was appointed interim manager while the club conducted a search for Ten Hag’s replacement, quickly settling on Amorim, despite technical director Jason Wilcox having raised concerns over the Portuguese coach in May.
In Van Nistelrooy’s four matches in charge, United won three games and drew one, ironically beating Leicester twice – once in the league and once in the Carabao Cup.
But Amorim’s arrival in November, bringing with him his coaching staff from Sporting CP, left no room for Van Nistelrooy and the pair agreed an exit for the former striker was the best option.
Yet Van Nistelrooy was immediately thrust back into a managerial role after Leicester chose to sack Steve Cooper, identifying the 48-year-old coach as the man to help their fight against relegation. It proved a disastrous decision, however.
Leicester became the first club in Premier League history to go nine games without scoring as the Foxes won just five games under Van Nistelrooy in 27 attempts. They were relegated in April with five games left to play and finished 10 points adrift of safety.
There was widespread expectation Van Nistelrooy would be sacked ahead of the Midlands club’s return to the Championship – and this was confirmed today in a public release on the club’s website.
Leicester City Football Club and Ruud van Nistelrooy have mutually agreed that Ruuds contract with the Club as First Team Manager will terminate with immediate effect.
— Leicester City (@LCFC) June 27, 2025
Tweet: “Leicester City Football Club and Ruud van Nistelrooy have mutually agreed that Ruuds contract with the Club as First Team Manager will terminate with immediate effect.”
Featured image Michael Regan via Getty Images
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Darragh Fox Darragh is a writer for The Peoples Person who spent three years as a history graduate slowly realising football was by far the most interesting thing to write about.
