I was about to sign for Man United when doctor cancelled transfer - I was beyond gutted

Ruud van Nistelrooy was left heartbroken after his initial transfer to Manchester United was scrapped due to a knee injury.

The Dutchman - who is currently the club's interim manager after the sacking of Erik ten Hag - joined the club in 2001 and spent the next five years of his career at Old Trafford, scoring 150 goals in 219 games.

Having established himself as one of the greatest strikers to ever play for the Premier League giants, his tenure at the Theatre of Dreams was scheduled to actually begin in 2000.

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United had agreed to a club record £18.5 million transfer with PSV Eindhoven for Van Nistelrooy's signature that summer but a move was sensationally cancelled after suffering issues with his knee.

The former Netherlands international opened up about the ordeal during his appearance on The Overlap with Gary Neville last year. "My first attempt signing for Manchester United was the most anxious moment in my career," he told his former team-mate.

"I did the whole medical in Manchester and we were driving up to Old Trafford to do the press conference to sign, and the phone rang. I was told by the orthopaedic surgeon from United who saw the MRI that my knee was not right, he said, ‘you have to turn around and go back to your hotel, you’re not going to pass a medical'.

“We turned the car around and I was seeing Old Trafford right in front of me. Once I got back to the hotel, the news already went out quickly to the press and there were photographers everywhere," he continued. "The paparazzi were outside the room trying to get pictures and I had to close the curtains. I said, ‘what the freak is happening to me now’ – it felt like I was in a movie.

"They said they’ll call me in an hour and confirmed that I could not go through with the transfer, so I had to go back to PSV Eindhoven, and we kept on going with my training, then I collapsed."

Just a day after the transfer of his dreams was cancelled, Van Nistelrooy suffered a rupture to his anterior cruciate knee ligaments during a PSV training session that left him on the sidelines for a year.

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"I messed my whole knee up and that was live on Sky, who was there. I did an exercise with heading the ball and twisted my knee. When you’re so close to something so huge that you’ve worked your whole life for, and it’s not happening, you feel the lowest," he added.

The following summer, United came back for the striker who finally clinched the long-awaited transfer and certainly hit the ground running in his debut season with 36 goals in 49 games.

With Ruben Amorim officially taking the reigns at United on Monday (November 11), it remains to be seen whether the Portuguese manager will retain Van Nistelrooy as an assistant. With the Dutchman under contract until 2026, the pair are set to hold discussions next week.