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06th Oct 2016

Usain Bolt reveals which Manchester United legend sparked his love affair with the club

150 goals will do it

Darragh Murphy

Do you ever wonder why celebrities end up supporting a certain football club?

What drew Tom Hanks to Aston Villa? What turned Sly Stallone into an Everton fan? And why does John Cena support Spurs?

We don’t know the answer to any of those questions but one question we can now confidently answer is what made Usain Bolt fall head over heels for Manchester United.

It wasn’t the famous treble win or the unprecedented success of Alex Ferguson that attracted the world’s fastest man to the Red Devils.

Manchester United v Fulham - Premier League

Rather, it was a legendary centre-forward that got Bolt’s undivided attention.

“[Ruud] van Nistelrooy played for them,” Bolt told Yahoo!. “I was like, ‘I like this guy. He’s cool. He’s very good.’ And I just started supporting him.”

Van Nistelrooy was a fan favourite during his five seasons at Old Trafford, where he developed into one of the most clinical finishers in Europe, with his 150 goals in 219 games proving just how deadly a striker he was.

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But Bolt went on to admit that he would have ended up supporting a different club entirely if the Dutchman had so happened to be lining out for another side when he came across him.

“The funny part about it is that it could’ve been any team,” Bolt said. “It could’ve been Sunderland. It could’ve been Newcastle.”

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