Legendary Dutch footballer Ruud van Nistelrooy has become the new manager of Ipswich Town’s Premier League rivals Leicester City.

The former striker is known for his playing career at Manchester United, where he bagged 150 goals in 219 games in all competitions. He also featured for Real Madrid and Hamburg before retiring at Malaga.

Van Nistelrooy started managing in PSV Eindhoven’s youth set-up and was eventually appointed as first-team manager in 2022, resigning at the end of the 2022/23 campaign. 

He joined returned to Old Trafford the following year to work under Erik ten Hag, but left Man United before they took on Ipswich as new boss Rúben Amorim opted to bring in his new coaching staff.

Steve Cooper was sacked last weekend after a poor run of performancesSteve Cooper was sacked last weekend after a poor run of performances (Image: PA)

That move opened the door for him to take on a managerial job elsewhere, with the Leicester vacancy becoming available after Steve Cooper was sacked.

The Welshman left the King Power Stadium last weekend with the Foxes in 16th place, but the hierarchy feared that their poor performances would lead to them dropping into the bottom three. Van Nistelrooy will be tasked with keeping them up this season and kicking on from there, signing a deal until 2027.

He’ll be in attendance as Leicester take on Brentford at the Gtech Community Stadium tomorrow afternoon before assuming managerial responsibilities on Sunday. His first game in charge will be at home to West Ham on Tuesday, December 3rd.

Ipswich will face already faced the Foxes at Portman Road, drawing 1-1 earlier this month. They’ll head to the King Power Stadium right at the end of the season in their final away match on May 18th, 2025.