Gabriel Heinze - Sir Matt Busby Player of the Year

By David Hobbs
July 8 2005

Gabriel Heinze shrugged off competition from Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo to pick up the prestigious Sir Matt Busby Player of the Year Award. This follows winning ManUtdWeb's Player of the Year last month.

Ruud van Nistelrooy has reiterated his intentions to stay at Old Trafford despite tempting links to La Liga giants Barcelona and Real

.

The voting was cast by 1000s of voters on the Red Devils' official website. The brave 27-year-old full-back is the first non-European player to pick up the accolade.

Heinze, an Argentina international left-back, received 6511 votes and beat £30 million signing Wayne Rooney by nearly 1000 votes. Cristiano Ronaldo came second following a vast improvement.

Gabby has risen to become a fans-favourite at Old Trafford since his £7 million transfer from PSG last summer and got off to a bad start with the United faithful.

Heinze picked country over club in order to represent Argentina in the Olympic games, where he picked up a gold medal. World Cup Qualifiers also delayed his debut. However, he made an instant impact by netting on his first start against Bolton.

Visitors of ManUtdWeb voted Heinze a clear winner of the Player of the Year Award also, winning by 34% of votes.

Sir Matt Busby Player of the Year Award result:

1. Gabriel Heinze - 6511 votes
2. Wayne Rooney - 5646 votes
3. Cristiano Ronaldo - 2310 votes

David Hobbs - Webmaster
[david@manutdweb.com]