5 players who regretted leaving Manchester United

#5 Ruud van Nistelrooy

Ruud van Nistelrooy left in 2006 for Real Madrid

Van Nistelrooy is one of the best finishers ever to play for Man Utd, along with Javier Hernandez and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. In terms of pure goal-getting, the Dutch striker was in a league of his own - 150 in 219 appearances to be exact, which is a phenomenal scoring rate, especially after he suffered what would normally be classed as a career-ending injury prior to joining Man Utd.

However, his greatest strength may have been his greatest weakness because he didn't contribute much more to the team apart from goals. His selfishness began to annoy other teammates and the final straw was when he fell out with the then fledgling, superstar Ronaldo. He left in 2006 for Real Madrid. Sadly, he never really recaptured the heights that he hit at Man United with his other clubs.

At Madrid, he was in and out of the team and his scoring rate gradually declined. Eventually, he wound his career down with comparative minnows Hamburg and Malaga, and Van Nistelrooy himself later admitted, with admirable candour, that his behaviour had been unacceptable in his later years at United, even ringing Ferguson to apologise, which he described in his autobiography.

Van Nistelrooy is right to have regrets - if he had stayed at United, he could easily have become the all-time top goal scorer, a prize which was eventually thoroughly deserved by Wayne Rooney.