Every club has that one great striker that takes them to the next level and breaks all sorts of records for the team. We all know about the exploits of Alan Shearer for Newcastle, who could have won a lot more had he moved to one of the big four clubs during his playing career, but he loved Newcastle and stuck with them, eventually becoming one of the greats from the Premier League.
The big four also have had their fair share of great strikers during the Premier League era, we know about Wayne Rooney and his goal scoring feats, apart from the last couple of seasons that is. Fernando Torres and then Luis Suarez tore up the goal scoring charts during their team at Liverpool while Manchester United were known at one time for a fearsome partnership that they had created between Dwight Yorke and Andy Cole.
We look back at probably the best striker to have come into the big four during the Premier League years and how they fared during their time at the clubs.
4. Ruud van Nistelrooy
Sir Alex Ferguson, more often than not, got his transfers right and this one was probably one of his best transfers do date. The Dutch striker came to Manchester United from PSV and in his first season at the club won the PFA Players’ Player of the year.
Van Nistelrooy had this uncanny knack of being at the right place at the right time, there was this joke about him only scoring one goal in his entire Manchester United career from outside the box but inside the penalty area, he was lethal.
Van Nistelrooy scored 150 goals for Manchester United during his five years at the club, not bad for a striker that came with a reputation of being injury prone. He did move to Real Madrid after his time at United but everyone remembers his goal scoring exploits for the Red Devils and also a bit of a swipe at Cristiano Ronaldo before leaving for Los Galacticos.