Update: Ruud van Nistelrooy’s Leicester City latest – Player ‘row’, replacement talk amid uncertain future News

Former Man United striker Ruud van Nistelrooy has struggled badly at Leicester City and now faces an uncertain future at the Foxes who face almost certain relegation to the Championship.

Former Manchester United striker Ruud van Nistelrooy is a man under pressure at Premier League strugglers Leicester City.

Following a successful four-match caretaker stint at Old Trafford, Ruben Amorim’s arrival led to the Dutchman departing his role, having joined as Erik ten Hag’s assistant last summer. However, he quickly returned to management, taking over from Steve Cooper at Leicester City – a club he had defeated twice during his interim tenure at United.

But if the former PSV Eindhoven boss hoped to use Leicester as a springboard for bigger and better things, his time at the King Power Stadium could not have gone any worse.

Below are all the details on Van Nistelrooy’s struggles in the East Midlands as things go from bad to worse for the Man United legend…

Leicester struggles

After a positive start to his time at the club with a win and a draw against West Ham and Brighton in his first two games in charge, things have gone downhill for Van Nistelrooy and Leicester.

The Foxes have lost 15 of their last 17 league games and sit 17 points from safety in 19th place. Their 3-0 defeat at home to Newcastle on April 7 also saw them become the first team in the history of the top four tiers of English football to lose eight consecutive home league games without scoring.

Player ‘row’

Midfielder Harry Winks was not included in the Leicester squad for their 2-0 defeat at Manchester City in early April, with Van Nistelrooy confirming it was a selection decision. However, reports of a ‘row’ between player and manager emerged on Thursday.

The Telegraph reported that Winks was left out of the squad after he refused to stay overnight for one day a week at Leicester’s training ground, amid his 90+mile commute into training. Van Nistelrooy is alleged to have reacted ‘angrily’ with the row described as ‘heated’.

The report claims Winks had his own personal reasons for wanting to commute, and following the report, the midfielder took to social media to announce the birth of a baby girl who was born last month.

It comes after reports claimed defender Jannik Vestergaard allegedly brought his dog to training at the multi-million pound training complex earlier this season. It was added that he was given permission to bring his dog as a ‘one-off’ due to having no one else to care for it.

‘Alignment’ message

As pressure mounts, Van Nistelrooy has said that he is seeking talks with Leicester’s hierarchy over the plans for next season. He has suggested that he wants assurances that the club see him as the person to take them forward and has spoken about ‘alignment.

Speaking about next season’s manager’s job, via LeicestershireLive, he said: “I think it’s very important to be aligned on that with the club. We have to find out over the coming weeks.

“Coming in in December and how the winter window went, taking it into the new season and the challenges we face, it’s very important for me to be aligned and (know) what possibilities are there. That alignment has to take place.”

When asked if the decision over next season needs to be sorted now, he responded with: “It needs to be sorted yesterday.

“The short term is to get something out of the eight games remaining. But there are two focuses at the same time.

“One is clear. The other, the alignment, we have to find each other there.”

Replacement rumours

While there has not been too many reports surrounding Van Nistelrooy’s future at Leicester, there has been some small whispers about possible replacements if they do make a change.

Last week it was reported by L’Equipe that Strasbourg manager Liam Rosenior was ‘in the sights’ of both Leicester and Southampton, but neither club represented an ‘immediate threat’.

It was then reported by the Daily Mail that Sheffield Wednesday manager Danny Rohl could be a target for Leicester if Van Nistelrooy leaves the club after relegation at the end of the campaign. It is reported that the compensation fee due to Wednesday would be lower for a Championship club than it would be for a Premier League club.

Future ‘uncertain’

Sky Sports News reported on Monday that Van Nistelrooy’s future at Leicester is uncertain. It is said that both club and manager are undecided about whether they want the relationship to continue into next season.

They add that Leicester have no current plans to replace Van Nistelrooy before the end of the season.