Van Persie Opens up on Manchester United Exit Two Years Ago

Robin Van Persie says that he would have still been a Manchester United player had Sir Alex Ferguson remained as the club’s manager.

Van Persie was not informed of Ferguson’s decision to retire at the end of the campaign if United won the title. The Scot step down from his role after more than 25 years in charge of the club. He is regarded as one of the greatest managers in world football, but his last league title was won courtesy of Van Persie. The Dutchman came as a £ 24 million signing from Arsenal and his 26 goals in 38 league matches were a major factor in United’s success.

The striker was named as the club’s Player of the Year during the 2012/13 season. It was a major sign that Van Persie would go on and follow in the footsteps of United great Ruud van Nistelrooy. Immediately after the exit of Ferguson, Van Persie started to struggle under the regimes of David Moyes and Louis van Gaal. Since Van Gaal is a Dutchman, he was expected to provide a lot of assistance to Van Persie when he took over from Moyes. It was not the case and Van Persie ended up leaving the club in 2015 for Fenerbahce.

He comes up against United in the Europa league group stages.“It could have been that I could have been a player for Manchester United today.When I signed that was the idea, that Sir Alex would stay on for a few more years, but in football things change, you can't plan your own path or your coach's path. In this world you have to deal with how it comes. What happened, happened. I don't think you have to make it bigger than it is. You shake hands and move on to the next chapter,” said Van Persie.