Van Persie Must Regret Ditching Arsenal

Fenerbahce are a good team in a reasonable league but it's not disrespectful to suggest it's a bit of a step down from the Premier League, especially the top four teams. This is destination for Robin van Persie who finds himself no longer wanted at the club he forsook Arsenal for.

On 4th July 2012 Van Persie released an "update for the fans" on his personal website detailing why he would not sign a new contract, why he believed the club were not matching his ambitions and how he disagreed with the way the club should move forward. It was speculated that his vision of the how the club should move forward consisted of a future where transfer policy was dictated in large by him with certain national teammates topping his list of demands. 

It was also speculated that Robin changed his mind about leaving Arsenal when the trio of Cazorla, Podolski and Giroud were signed and that explained why he made such a show of taking the captain's armband when he came on as a sub in a pre-season friendly. According to the theory of this speculation Mr Wenger had decided by that point he could not keep Van Persie after his treatment of the club - including attempts to deflect any negativity from his statement towards Ivan Gazidis by pretending the CEO was on holiday when he could have been fighting tooth and nail to keep the captain when he was in fact still in the UK - and was set on moving him out.

I remember at the time many felt, man for man, with Arsenal's new signings, that Arsenal were of equal status to Manchester United. I also remember every single one of those people being roundly ridiculed for their "delusion". Manchester United's signing of Van Persie was the transfer equivalent of a six-pointer because it improved United by as much as it weakened Arsenal and that was evident at the end of the season with United scoring their way to the title.

The decision to allow a "six-point transfer" was one that earned Arsène a fair share of grief and I'm sure there are plenty who will never understand why that was allowed to happen. Financially, it was the right choice for Arsenal but it undoubtedly set us back by another season, however the two seasons that followed have been worth it.

Robin van Persie moved for trophies. Plural. If we are not allow to consider the Community Shield as a trophy then neither should RvP. Van Persie sold his soul for a solitary Premier League trophy and whilst it is the greatest trophy he can win it will always be tainted with his betrayal. Not his betrayal of the club by moving to a rival, that happens and it would be hypocritical of us to laud Sol Campbell whilst denigrating Robin, but his betrayal of the trust and patience the club poured into him.

He rewarded six and a half years of patience throughout all his injuries with just 18 months of his best before deciding his debt was paid and he was in a position to dictate how the club should be run. That, coupled with his disrespectful statement to the fans, is his true betrayal.

How ironic it is that now, on the cusp of being shipped out to Turkey, he talks of betrayal from Louis van Gaal. The manager's job is to ensure he makes the best decisions for the club and Van Persie is all but finished in the Premier League. The signs have been there since the moment Alex Ferguson left. How foolish Robin must have felt to have been beguiled into obliterating every ounce of goodwill from the Arsenal fans his goals had earned him and the chance to finish his career as a club legend in exchange for a farewell trophy for the manager.

It was pure schadenfreude hearing Robin complain, a little over 18 months after joining United, about his teammates getting in his way and not giving him enough chances to score. How he must have looked on in regretful envy at the Arsenal team he decided wasn't going in the right direction to be ploughing ahead of his team of fallen heroes, struggling to challenge for Europa League spots, and ruing his poor choice. I wonder if he looked on at Arsenal failing by just seven points, or a two game swing, with schadenfreude himself or with melancholic repentance believing the outcome would have been different if only he had stayed? How he could have captained Arsenal to their first league trophy in almost a decade, possibly gone on to win the double in his tenth year at the club and retired with far more trophies that he will end up with now and a place in the heart and history of the club.

He will never be a legend at United, nor Fenerbahce and certainly not at Arsenal. He sold his soul for a solitary league title -  a league title he in most probabilities would have won at Arsenal - the club he professed to love.

Three years at United has seen his club quickly become the team he felt Arsenal couldn't stop being and three managers let him down in different ways. Ferguson used him to achieve his aim of leaving on a high without a care of the state of the team for the next man. Moyes failed at being a big enough draw to fix the mess Ferguson left and let Robin down by expecting him to fire United to a respectable finish with the creative talents of Fellaini backing him up and Louis van Gaal made it clear he was surplus to requirements.

Wenger never let him down. Van Persie showed no loyalty to the one person who stuck by him during the most trying periods of his career. He showed Arsenal no loyalty so how can he ever expect any loyalty or honesty from United and Van Gaal?

United have squeezed every bit of usefulness they can out of him and are now dropping him like a hot rock. He may well look at Arsenal and the extension offered to Arteta and wonder if he would have been rewarded for his loyalty and effort with a place to wind his career down in appreciation and success. 

Robin is now reaping what he sowed and possibly this final bit of schadenfreude will give us some closure on a player we have clearly lamented leaving as much as he have reviled him for it.

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