Vieira’s complaints about the Dutchman stem from a number of incidents involving the player in Manchester United versus Arsenal games over recent years and Vieira suggests that resentment towards Van Nistelrooy is prevalent within Highbury. Forget Jose Mourinho and Arsène Wenger: the most poisonous relationship in English football is between the Dutch striker and the north London club.

Last season, Wenger was disciplined by the Football Association after saying of Van Nistelrooy, who has clashed with Ashley Cole, Martin Keown and others as well as Vieira in Arsenal-United fixtures: “He can only cheat.” Vieira, who moved to Juventus in summer, is now beyond the FA’s jurisdiction and goes much further than his former manager in lambasting Arsenal’s bogeyman. “Ruud van Nistelrooy is a cheat and a coward who is sneaky in the way he goes about fouling other players. Everyone thinks he’s a nice guy but, in fact, he’s a son of a bitch. He has a history of incidents that all too often have gone unnoticed,” Vieira said. “He has punched Freddie Ljungberg and elbowed Lauren. At Arsenal we hated him and had real reason to do so. I can’t stand the sight of Van Nistelrooy. He’s a great player — but everything about him annoys me.”

Vieira’s personal gripe with Sir Alex Ferguson’s No 10 dates back to the scoreless draw between Arsenal and United at Old Trafford in September 2003 in which he was sent off after fouling Van Nistelrooy. After Van Nistelrooy missed a last-minute penalty in that match he was crowded and insulted by a gaggle of Arsenal players, several of whom, including Vieira, were fined for their post-match behaviour.

“I was sent off at Old Trafford after a second yellow card as a result of an incident with him. I got shafted. Just thinking about it makes my blood boil,” Vieira said. “He tried to stamp on me and then he made more of the challenge than he should have done. I am not blaming the referee. He got shafted too.”

In the book, entitled simply Vieira: My Autobiography, Vieira confirms reports that he and Van Nistelrooy almost came to blows in the tunnel at Old Trafford after that game. “I was standing with a friend when Van Nistelrooy walked past. We looked at each other. He tried to talk to me and I told him that it was finished and I had nothing more to say.

“But he persisted. So I asked if I had touched him. He simply replied, ‘You have no class’. That was the icing on the cake. He was trying to convince himself that he had not cheated, which showed he didn’t have a clear conscience.

“I said, ‘Watch it, or I’m going to land one on you’.”

Vieira, whose book is extracted in today’s News of the World, said he was only prevented from trading blows with Van Nistelrooy after others intervened — and lays a further slur on Van Nistelrooy by implying that the United striker was ready to shrink from the fight.

“This altercation confirmed my view that not only is Van Nistelrooy a cheat, he lacks courage,” claimed Vieira.

He also contrasts Van Nistelrooy’s persona with others at United.

“There are some players I respect, despite the fact they’ll stick the boot in. Paul Scholes gives as good as he gets, won’t complain, won’t moan and roll around on the ground. He gives, he takes.”

Vieira is also largely complimentary about Roy Keane, who is “bad on the pitch, intimidates opponents “but remains someone I respect. He has charisma and fights for what he believes in”.

His only issue with Keane is comments made by the United captain in the tunnel before United’s 4-2 victory at Highbury last season. After Vieira clashed with United defender Gary Neville, Keane intervened and lambasted Vieira for playing for France instead of Senegal, the country of his birth. “It was pathetic,” said Vieira. “He is the one who quit the Republic of Ireland squad during the 2002 World Cup.”

Vieira also lays bare another secret, that he himself was subject to an approach by United. “I was told United made me an offer but I never met Sir Alex Ferguson. There was a lot of confusion and that was my fault. The one thing I did not handle properly was the business of agents. That is what happened with United. there were so many people getting involved, I never knew if it was really United who were interested.”

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