I'd rather passionate Ruud van Nistelrooy became Man Utd boss over Ruben Amorim, says former Red Devils midfielder, as legendary striker 'knows the culture Alex Ferguson put in place'

The World Cup-winning midfielder played alongside Van Nistelrooy for United under Sir Alex Ferguson, winning the FA Cup together in 2004. Van Nistelrooy returned to United last summer as Erik ten Hag's assistant coach and has been taking temporary charge of the team since Erik ten Hag was sacked. But Kleberson believes the Dutchman, who scored 150 goals for the club, would be better suited as permanent manager than the incoming Ruben Amorim.

Kleberson, speaking to Unibet, the home of football odds, said: "I would like to see Ruud be the manager of United, 100 percent – he has a passion for the club. He has a lot of stuff from Ferguson, and I know that they have spoken a lot from being there together. The biggest thing is that Ruud knows the culture of the club, that Ferguson helped put in place. He knows the club, and can make change and the players will listen to him more because he was a great player and goal scorer in the history of the club. Ruud would know how to play the locker room, how the guys are feeling, and whilst I love Amorim as a young coach and the amazing things that he has done at Sporting, I really would have loved to have seen how Ruud would do as manager."

United thrashed Leicester City 5-2 in Van Nistelrooy's first game as interim coach in the Carabao Cup. He drew his first Premier League game with Chelsea and has two more games before Amorim takes over: in the Europa League against PAOK on Thursday and in the Premier League against Leicester on Sunday. "I feel so sorry for Ten Haag leaving United, but we know that football is all about winning games and getting trophies, and people in football want things to happen quickly and they don’t have patience," Kleberson added. "But to see Ruud on the side against Leicester managing United, I was so happy for him because I know him well and how prepared he would be for this and how he would bring back the old spirit to United. To see him on the side of the field, it was great to see as a friend, and I was really happy for him."

Kleberson revealed that of all the players he played with at United, he expected Gary Neville to be a successful manager more than anyone else. That prediction did not work out as Neville has had just one stint as manager, a disastrous four-month spell in charge of Valencia. The former Brazil international explained: "From my time at United, there was only one player that I expected to become a coach, and he did try at one time, and that was Gary Neville! Gary was a leader and a coach for the other players. I didn’t expect that [Ole Gunnar] Solskjaer would become a coach, and you would see the players openly and what they were like and I wouldn’t have expected anyone else to become a coach other than Gary Neville."

Kleberson said four players could be lifted by Amorim's arrival as coach. He added: "I love [Marcus] Rashford, and I only have good things to say about him. He’s a good player that can do a lot of stuff. It’s a good squad and all depends how the manager wants to play. I know that Antony has struggled a lot, but he still has good quality. [Alejandro] Garnacho can also play and help, Bruno [Fernandes] is an experienced guy that will always do something for the team too."