There’s no question that an in-form Ruud Van Nistelrooy is still one of the best strikers in the world, which makes his abrupt fall from grace at Manchester United and the Netherlands all the more remarkable. The record-breaking center forward had a very public falling out with former boss Sir Alex Ferguson in February that he never seemed to recover from. Picked to lead the Netherlands to the World Cup anyways, van Nistelrooy’s subdued performances in Germany ultimately saw him dropped for the crucial second-round game against Portugal, which the Dutch ultimately lost. It’s been a bad year for one of the game’s iconic strikers. Last Friday, Ruud was given another chance at a new club with bigger names and fiercer competition for places. But there will be no guarantees either at Real Madrid, which the International Herald Tribune points out has one of the world’s biggest striker surpluses: Ronaldo, Robinho, Julio Baptista, Antonio Cassano, Raul, and now, van Nistelrooy. That said, new boss Fabio Capello has made it abundantly clear there will be no free lunch for the club’s superstars. When asked specifically about Ronaldo, who has yet to report to training camp after surgery, Capello said curtly: “I don’t know him. I have only seen him on TV, I have never trained him,” adding, “We don’t want average players. We will not waste money on this kind of player.” Let that be a warning: if van Nistelrooy had problems with playing time and being afforded chances at United, he will probably have to exercise more patience at Real Madrid, a club with twice as many strikers, and all of them top-class.