Van Nistelrooy pledges allegiance to Hamburg

Veteran Dutch striker Ruud van Nistelrooy yesterday pledged his allegiance to Hamburg, despite his disappointment at failing to re-join former club Real Madrid.

“I am 100 per cent concentrated on Hamburg,” the 34-year-old insisted.

“I am going to give all I can over the next three months in order that we can achieve the best possible results,” declared the former Real and Manchester United forward.

“I’m happy at Hamburg... of course I was disappointed not to be able to re-join Real, but that’s forgotten now.”

Van Nistelrooy was speaking after an interview he gave with a Dutch television station in which he spoke about his disappointment at not being allowed to join Real Madrid during January’s transfer window.

Hamburg coach Armin Veh said earlier that he was not planning to punish Van Nistelrooy, whose contract ends in June, for those comments.

“I spoke to him and those talks gave me no indication that he wasn’t ready to give his all for the club in the months to come,” explained Veh.

Van Nistelrooy was approached by Real, who were looking for cover for injured Argentina striker Gonzalo Higuain, but Hamburg refused to enter into discussions about a possible transfer.