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Ruud van Nistelrooy has been savaged by former Leicester City striker Odsonne Edouard.
Edouard says Van Nistelrooy was not a 'great coach' and revealed he used to do his own training sessions after the Dutchman had tried to tutor him.
The Frenchman has found a new lease of life playing for Lens in his homeland but his loan at Leicester last season was a disaster, ending with just six appearances and relegation from the Premier League.
He had built a decent reputation at parent club Crystal Palace but hardly got a sniff under Van Nistelrooy, who won just five of his 27 games in charge and lost 19.
'Being been a great striker doesn't necessarily mean being a great coach,' Edouard told L'Equipe.
'After training, I would do an even harder session with my fitness coach. I didn't give up.
Ruud van Nistelrooy is not a 'great coach', according to one of his former Leicester City players
Odsonne Edouard says he and the Dutchman 'didn't get along well' and he was frozen out
'Leicester, it had a professional impact on me. I don't really have any reasons.
'At the beginning, I played a little [under Steve Cooper], then things didn't work out with Van Nistelrooy.
'I didn’t get along well with Van Nistelrooy. I found myself blocked for seven months without playing.'
Indeed, Edouard only played two minutes under Van Nistelrooy early in his tenure and after that, he only appeared on the bench once.
Admittedly, he had had a goalless start to the season but it was puzzling that Van Nistelrooy did not want to draw on the forward's Premier League experience.
The 27-year-old could hardly have asked for a better start to life at Lens, with the northern French club sat second in Ligue 1.
Edouard scored a penalty on Saturday to help them beat Roberto De Zerbi's Marseille 2-1 and leapfrog them.
Lens are an aspirational club to be at. In 2022-23, they finished second in Ligue 1 and qualified for the Champions League.
Edouard has found form after moving to French club Lens, who are second in Ligue 1
They have since gone on to record a couple of top half finishes, meaning the squad is used to competing for Europe.
As for Van Nistelrooy, he has not enjoyed a soft landing from Leicester.
He only left the Foxes near the end of June, having been a dead man walking since the end of the season in May, and is yet to find another job.
While Premier League fans will now mostly perceive his managerial qualities in light of his Leicester stay, it should be noted that he has done a good job elsewhere.
He won three of his four games as Manchester United interim boss last season, going unbeaten as he steadied the ship following Erik ten Hag's sacking.
Before that, he had spent a year with PSV in the Netherlands and won them the KNVB Cup.
