A former Leicester City striker has accused the club’s owners of breaking promises to Ruud van Nistelrooy.
Van Nistelrooy watched on as his side succumbed to a ninth defeat in 10 Premier League games and remain firmly in the bottom three.
Leicester were beaten by Arsenal despite putting up a resilient fight on an afternoon where Foxes fans pointed the finger at Jon Rudkin in a protest inside the King Power Stadium.
Poor recruitment has been one of the main talking points of the season, with Oliver Skipp, a seven-figure signing disappointing, as well as Odsonne Edouard taking home a huge wage, despite not playing.
Matt Piper calls out Leicester owners over Van Nistelrooy claim
When he was appointed in November, Van Nistelrooy revealed that the transfer window was a huge part of his negotiations.
Van Nistelrooy wanted to improve four key positions but only managed to sign Woyo Coulibaly for £3m.
Reports later revealed that Leicester were still fearing PSR despite avoiding a charge earlier in the season.
Speaking on the When You’re Smiling podcast after the Arsenal loss, former Leicester striker Matt Piper said he felt like the board had let Van Nistelrooy down amid the promise of funds being available.
He said: “In ‘Top’s’ [Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha] notes this afternoon he spoke about PSR and that’s why they were unable to bring anyone in.
“If we’re restricted because of PSR and the rules created around that, I understand.
“But, when you take someone on like Ruud van Nistelrooy, they clearly would have said we’ve done our homework and we’re going to have a little money to spend in January.
“That has turned out to be a lie. We had the money to spend but we couldn’t spend it in January due to PSR. That is what ‘Top’ is telling us.
“What you’ve done to Ruud there is like trying to tell him to ice-skate up a hill.”
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Will Ruud van Nistelrooy be sacked as Leicester City manager?
There are definitely some grounds to suggest that Van Nistelrooy could be sacked as Leicester manager.
His points-per-game record in comparison to previous boss Steve Cooper is far worse.
| Steve Cooper points-per-game as Leicester manager | Ruud van Nistelrooy points-per-game as Leicester manager |
| 0.8 | 0.5 |
Some journalists have even blamed Leicester fans for Cooper’s sacking.
But, even if two league wins since November is poor for a side battling relegation, Leicester’s owners won’t sack Van Nistelrooy as they simply can’t afford to.
There were fears from the board that Van Nistelrooy would quit due to the lack of support in the transfer market, but the Dutchman quashed those rumours and seems committed to keeping the Foxes in the top flight.