For any Manchester United supporters tuning in, Ruud van Nistelrooy was not the only familiar face in the Leicester City dugout during Tuesday’s 3-1 Premier League win over West Ham.
As the legendary striker and former interim boss guided The Foxes to only their third win in 14 games since promotion – Jamie Vardy rolling back the years as the Ruud van Nistelrooy era started with a goal after just two minutes – the Red Devils supporters might have found themselves wondering where they had seen one member of the Dutchman’s backroom staff before.
And if his name had slipped your mind, then that’s probably understandable.
While Van Nistelrooy remains one of the most memorable and iconic figures in Manchester United’s modern history – an elite goalscorer in his playing days and a popular presence during that interim spell post Erik ten Hag too – Jelle ten Rouwelaar simply didn’t stick around long enough to make much of a lasting impression.
Ten Rouwelaar joined Ten Hag’s staff at Old Trafford back in July.
The former PSV Eindhoven, Groningen and FC Twente glovesman was appointed as Man United’s goalkeeping coach following an Ineos-driven shake-up at Carrington. He replaced Richard Hartis, the man who held the role from 2019 to 2014.
But if Ten Rouwelaar had hoped to stick around for as long as Hartis did, a dreadful start to Ten Hag’s third and final season at the helm meant those best-laid plans quickly went awry.
Jelle Ten Rouwelaar joins Ruud van Nistelrooy at Leicester after Manchester United exit
Alongside Rene Hake and latterly Van Nistelrooy too, Ten Rouwelaar departed Man United just months after his arrival as Ruben Amorim arrived with his own collection of coaches.
Jorge Vital would take his place. But, while Ten Rouwelaar’s next move has not been made official by the club’s in-house media, the sight of the towering 43-year-old in deep discussions with Van Nistelrooy during Leicester’s stunning win over West Ham suggests that neither man had long to wait for a fresh start.
Ten Rouwelaar appears to have taken up a coaching role at the King Power Stadium. And, as Leicester somehow survived a West Ham onslaught, Ten Rouwelaar will have been very impressed by what he saw from faultless Foxes glovesman Mads Hermansen.
To quote Van Nistelrooy, West Ham scoring just once from a staggering 30 attempts on goal, Hermansen was nothing short of ‘unbelievable’ between the sticks.
Tom Heaton liked Ten Rouwelaar but Jorge Vital now takes over
Ten Rouwelaar did make a positive impression during his brief stay in Manchester. United veteran Tom Heaton could not speak highly enough of the work they did together on the training pitch in pre-season, with the former Burnley, Ajax and Anderlecht coach helping to add another string to the 38-year-old’s bow.
Whoever said you cannot teach old dogs new tricks?
“I’ve really enjoyed the sessions. They are different,” Heaton told The Telegraph. “He works more on cognitive basic calls, where it’s making you think quite a bit.
So on my first warm-up day, he and I went out for half an hour and it was a lot of opposites. So there’d be a blue cone, a yellow cone, and it was a case of doing the opposite. If he shouts blue you have to go to yellow.
“Then he passed me the ball and if he said right, it’d be left, and then the progression would be left, left, but the first one wouldn’t be an opposite and the second one would be an opposite.
“I was like; ‘What?’ But it’s good. It does make you think so you’re not just going through the motions.”
Silvino Lauro, Man United’s goalkeeping coach under Jose Mourinho, thinks Jorge Vital will have a positive impact on Andre Onana and co as the Red Devils begin another new era.
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