Flying Dutchman is worth his weight in goals

HE has played 100 matches, he has scored 79 goals.

Now Ruud van Nistelrooy has a Premier League medal to prove his worth to Manchester United.

If United supporters, who were not even born when Denis Law was strutting his stuff in front of the Stretford End, still refer to the charismatic Scottish striker as The King, what title will they afford the flying Dutchman when his contribution is assessed in 40 years’ time.

Statisticians can leaf through the record books as often as they like, but there is no denying it. Van Nistelrooy has the finest goal ratio of any United player whose appearance record has reached three figures; he has scored in more successive matches than any of his contemporaries and if he somehow manages another hat-trick in the final game at Goodison Park next week, no player will ever have scored more goals in a season for the world’s most famous club either.

If Law is the King, the Manchester United monarchy is set to be abolished. “You can’t compare him with anybody,” gushed Sir Alex Ferguson after watching the wisest £18.5m investment of his life demolish Charlton. “He is a special player, one of the best ever, and his performances have shown that.” In his prime, if Law had received such an accolade he would probably have agreed, such was his unshakeable belief in his own ability.

Van Nistelrooy is a different breed, quiet, calm and willing to recognise the contribution his team-mates have made to his astonishing scoring burst.

And he is also aware the personal accolades count for nothing without a medal to go with the expanding collection of match-balls. There may well be a grudging offer of thanks to Leeds for their stunning win at Highbury which gave United their eighth Premier League title in 11 seasons, but the hand extended to Van Nistelrooy will be the one with real feeling. United may have the best defensive record in the top flight but with 43 goals, the Dutchman is the man of the season, even if the PFA and assorted football writers’ couldn’t see it.

“I am really happy to have played 100 games and to have scored so many goals but the main thing is that there is a medal to show for it,” said the 26-year-old. “We have worked hard during the season because at the start the defence was functioning well but the attack wasn’t so good. We had to go through a process of ensuring both were working properly, which is what we have done. At the moment it seems as though every time we go forward we create a chance, which as a striker is fantastic.”

It is not quite so good for a defender though as Charlton found to their cost after offering stern resistance for the first half-hour on Saturday during which time they bounced back instantly from David Beckham’s opener when Claus Jensen fired home a long range first-time effort after a mis-hit Roy Carroll clearance had fallen neatly into his path. Against most opponents, they would have had a chance to clear Mikael Silvestre’s knock back from David Beckham’s corner, or get a challenge in when Ole Gunnar Solskjaer flicked on a Paul Scholes pass.

Facing Van Nistelrooy, they found themselves two goals adrift, Dean Kiely unable to get more than a hand on the Dutchman’s swivelling volley and then finding his rush from goal beaten by a delicate lob as the game slipped away.

When the 26-year-old latched onto a Beckham long ball eight minutes after the interval and smashed home his third hat-trick of the season, the Addicks must have feared an avalanche.

Fortunately for them it never came.

After his withering condemnation of Arsenal’s triumphalism earlier in the season, Ferguson ensured there could be no accusation of double standards by cancelling the traditional lap of honour which usually follows the end of the final home game.

Instead, stragglers from another Premiership record crowd were treated to Beckham embarking on a possible farewell kickabout with son Brooklyn, eager to make the most of what could be his final Old Trafford appearance, ahead of the last-day trip to Everton next week.