A year in football is a pretty long time, three years is even longer. When Robin Van Persie betrayed his Arsenal fans with a move to rivals Manchester United, it felt like Arsene had sold Manchester United the Premier League trophy. Arguably the hottest striker in the Premier League in 2011, when he scored 30 goals in 38 Premier League games, Van Persie was sold to United after a fallout with Arsenal management. Manchester United got the striker they wanted and won the Premier League in 2012 thanks to 26 goals in the Premier League by Van Persie.
RVPAt that point in time it was the right decision by Van Persie, he had never won the Premier League title and Arsenal hadn’t won a major trophy for a long time. Sadly, this was as good as it got for Van Persie at Manchester United. David Moyes was brought to take over Manchester United in 2013 and we all know how that went, United missed out on European football altogether, this season they brought in the former Holland manager, Louis Van Gaal and well it hasn’t gone well for Van Persie this season either.
The goals have dried up, he has missed games due to injury and he hasn’t looked like that player who was scoring goals for fun. While Manchester United struggled to get back to the glory of the Ferguson days, Arsenal have been transformed, they not only signed top players like Mesut Ozil, Olivier Giroud and Alexis Sanchez and all of them have been brilliant for the club, growing in stature and performances for the Gunners.
A wise decision or a hasty one?
If we are to look at the big picture, Arsenal are in a better position currently than Manchester United. They have the better team, a better attacking force and it seems that Arsene has learned that he needs to spend money to ensure Arsenal grow and get better. They finished third in the Premier League and look set to get another top player into the club sooner or later.
Manchester United on the other hand still haven’t found their mojo and are looking at another season of rebuilding. Reports coming in have stated that Robin Van Persie’s future at the club isn’t clear as he could be leaving the club or going back to the Netherlands. Van Persie is 31-years-old and the pace and strength of the Premier League might be getting too much for him.
Arsenal seem to have won out on the deal over the course of three years, they have become a better side and more importantly, when they sold Van Persie, they couldn’t have won the Premier League. That season, Manchester United, Chelsea and Manchester City had better teams when compared to Arsenal. The Gunners now seem to be set to go further and probably pose a serious challenge to Chelsea for the Premier League crown this time around.
Manchester United are not close to the title unless a lot of investment comes in terms of making the team better, they could be selling Van Persie and a few more players to get some cash in but Van Gaal will be provided with the funds to get United back on track. Van Persie might be regretting his move at the moment as Arsenal have a better set of attackers in the team and had he been playing for the club at the moment, who knows how many goals he would have scored. The reality is that Robin Van Persie did the right thing when he moved to Manchester United years ago as he won the title he dreamt about, the Premier League while Arsenal have only added a couple of FA Cups to their trophy cabinet.
Van Persie shouldn’t regret his decision, he won the league and that is something that Arsenal have not been able to do in a long time.
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