Who are the greatest players in Manchester United’s history? The Athletic gave Andy Mitten the task of compiling his top 25, and we are counting them down this summer, in reverse order. He explains his thought process here.Ruud van Nistelrooy played only 219 games for Manchester United, the second-lowest of anyone on this list. That he scored 150 times, a goal every 0.685 games, pushes him so high. For a while, Van Nistelrooy was the best striker in the world.“Thierry Henry or Ruud van Nistelrooy,” we asked fans to choose on United’s 2003 U.S. tour, citing the best two players in the league. Van Nistelrooy was far more prolific. Only Tommy Taylor, who died at Munich, comes close to his United ratio.Dennis Viollet, with 0.611, should also be noted. Mancunian Viollet is fifth on the list of all-time United goalscorers, with 179 goals between 1953 and 1962, though he only played for England twice. Taylor, with 131 goals from 191 appearances, is 16th. The Yorkshireman, signed from his hometown club of Barnsley, was 26 when he died.While we’re on great goalscorers, ‘Gunner’ Jack Rowley’s 211 in 424 games would have been higher had the Second World War not taken six years out of his United career. The same can be said of Stan Pearson, one of Rowley’s strike partners in Sir Matt Busby’s first great side, who scored 148 goals in 343 games. Rowley is fourth in United’s all-time top scorers’ list. Pearson is 12th.Anyway, back to Van Nistelrooy.He signed from PSV Eindhoven in 2001. Sir Alex Ferguson’s scout brother Martin had spotted him at Heerenveen in the Eredivisie, but PSV beat United to his signature. United went back in 2000 to sign him, but he failed his medical after cruciate damage was spotted – and later confirmed when a new agonising injury kept him out for a season. United stayed patient and supportive and got their man in 2001 for a substantial £17million fee ($22.9m at today’s exchange rate).Van Nistelrooy was an immediate success. He was United’s player of the year in his first two seasons, Professional Footballers’ Association player of the year in his first and Premier League player of the season (and top scorer) in his second, as well as Champions League top scorer in three seasons. In his five campaigns at Old Trafford, his goal tallies were 36, 44, 30, 16 (from 27 games) and 24.“His numbers were sensational,” Ferguson said in his 2013 autobiography. “He was one of our club’s greatest goalscorers. If you put my great goalscorers together (Andrew Cole, Eric Cantona, Van Nistelrooy and Wayne Rooney), Ruud was the most prolific. Van Nistelrooy scored some magnificent goals, but many were scabby, six-yard box goals.”Ruud van Nistelrooy was Europe’s deadliest striker when he was at Manchester United (Paul Barker/AFP via Getty Images)The son of Oss, north of Eindhoven, won respect from his peers.“He was the best finisher,” Ryan Giggs told me in 2024. “Coley, Sparky, Eric — even Cristiano (Ronaldo). All good finishers. Ruud would do exactly in training what he’d do in a game. He wouldn’t pass to you if the shot was on. And if the shot was on then he’d score. He had every finish in the bag: side foot, pings, dinks. He’d do it every day in training.”