RUUDI FIRING ON ALL CYLINDERS

"He has been on holiday and he came back towards the end of June. We're
going to put him on a programme of endurance and work and I think next year
he'll be an even better player. It was a fantastic first season. I thought he
would maybe show a sign of tiredness earlier, but he came through
fantastically and hit a great bout of scoring in December through to January
and February.

"But at the end of March and April he started to show those signs of tiredness
that I thought would come.''
The Lawman agrees with Ferguson and he believes van Nistelrooy can do
even better this coming season.

"You do get marked a lot tighter in your second season once you have shown
you can score goals like he has done, it's an inevitable consequence of such
success.

The second year is notoriously harder, but Ruud is such a world-class player
that I don't think he'll be bothered by that at all.''

"Ruud is just going to get better and better, he is of world-class calibre and I
think he will just be even better next season. To expect 35 goals again is a lot,
but that's what everyone will be expecting."

"He can do it. You have to be in a good side and get the ammunition and
United will provide him with that. I believe he'll do it again and I rate him as
one of the best strikers I have ever seen.''