Monday, 17 January 2011REAL Madrid boss, Jose Mourinho is considering bringing Ruud Van Nistelrooy back to the club to help ease his attacking crisis.
Holland striker, Van Nistelrooy, 34, dumped the club to join Bundesliga outfit, Hamburg in January 2010 after falling down the pecking order under then-manager, Manuel Pelligrini.
But with Gonzalo Higuain effectively ruled out until the end of the La Liga season, Real needs attacking reinforcements.
Van Nistelrooy's contract with Hamburg ends in the summer, and Mourinho said he would like to sign the striker in the January transfer window - but not as a replacement for Karim Benzema.
"A lot of names have been mentioned, all of them seem players that could be helpful and, if finally there is Ruud, I'd be very happy," Mourinho said at the weekend.
"We met in the Premier League, in my first seasons (when Mourinho was manager of Chelsea and Van Nistelrooy was at Manchester United). I know him well. I know the player, I know the man and I'd be happy if it was him. But we'll see what happens.
" I personally haven't had any contact with either Hamburg's coach or Hamburg's staff to ask if he's close or far from signing for Madrid and I don't feel it's correct to be talking about a player that, in a couple of hours, will be defending a shirt that is not mine. We'll see."
"But, at this stage, he's a Hamburg player and we must respect the situation because, and I insist, he's not ours."
