Van Persie picks two Arsenal men among his most talented teammates

Robin van Persie left Arsenal under a cloud after he forced through a move to Manchester United.

But the Dutchman remains one of the best strikers that the club has ever had and did serve them well with his wand of a left foot.

Having turned out for two of England’s biggest teams, he would have shared the dressing room and pitch with some top talents.

He was recently asked to name the most talented player that he has played with and he named two former Arsenal players.

Even though he spent the most time of his career with the Gunners, most of the players he selected were from Manchester United.

In a list of six stars, he selected four ex-United men.

He admitted that it was tough to pick one considering the calibre of players he starred with, before naming Dennis Bergkamp, Thierry Henry among others.

He told BBC Sport via Sun Sports: “So difficult to name one.

“I would go for Dennis Bergkamp, Thierry Henry, Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, Wayne Rooney and Ruud van Nistelrooy.”

Henry and Bergkamp were truly pure talents who gave Arsenal fans memories that some of them would never forget all their lives.

Tags Dennis Bergkamp Robin Van Persie Thierry Henry

19 Comments

  1. Would you have given him a EPL medal? Which has more worth, trophy or legendary status? Harry kane knows the answer.

  2. We need to get over this whole petty RVP beef…he left because we were so busy pretending to be poor and he actually wanted to compete for things…it said more about our club and those within the powers that be that we sold him to United for a pittance of his actual worth…that’s on us, not him

    1. He had only a year left on his contract and told the club that he was not going to renew it City and other clubs wanted him but after talking with Ferguson he would only go to United or run his contract out which put them in a stronger position to negotiate hence the fee.

      1. so somehow it was his fault that we allowed by far our best player to once again go into the final year of his contract…this is exactly what happens when you fail miserably with anything asset management-related, a problem that still exists today…can’t you at least look at the reality of the situation retrospectively and draw a vastly different and much better informed conclusion based on the revealed facts…at some point you have to see that that only common denominator in all of these situations was the person in charge, not each individual player

        1. TRVL, the truth of the matter was that Van Persie would not sign a contract extension with Arsenal unless the Club showed ambition by buying upgrades in certain positions. He had discussions with Arsene Wenger about his views on future transfers and left unsatisfied. The Club’s lack of ambition led to a parting of the ways. To Wenger’s credit he didn’t string Van Persie along with false hope; however he probably resented a player advising him should be bought.

          1. OG…I’m not disputing that he might have engaged in some conversations with Wenger about recruitment related issues, but this wasn’t an unreasonable ask for someone who was on an expiring contract and contemplating his future…not to mention, as fans we should have applauded the fact that someone on the inside was trying to hold the team accountable for their seeming lack of ambition

            I would even suggest that Wenger, albeit begrudgingly, approached RVP, not visa versa, in the hopes of keeping things in-house so as to not either lose considerable leverage should he need to be sold and/or for fear that if he didn’t extend an olive branch and things went sideways RVP’s people might give an already frustrated fanbase an unauthorized peak behind the curtain

            think about it, the RVP scenario was eerily similar to what had transpired with Sanchez several years later…both had expiring contracts(1 year left), which should never happen with your best players…in both cases when things were starting to go sideways we started to hear stories about player recruitment demands and anti-team behavioural issues(self-centered), which was clearly meant to undermine the relationship between the player and the fans…ultimately both would push for a more vengeful United exit strategy, which suggests they felt they had been strung along/slighted by the club…in the end we neither managed to retain our best players nor get anything close to their value to the club in return

            on a side note, this pattern appears to be underway presently in the case of Auba, so we should expect to hear more rumours about his in-house interactions in the coming weeks and months

  3. I do not consider him a traitor for wanting to win the biggest trophies in the latter part of his career. The disappointing aspect is that he was regularly injured for many periods before the last 18 months at Arsenal but was always offered him a new contract in spite of this. To us naive fans it’s more about loyalty than ambition!

  4. Traitor. He demanded we brought in more quality in attack, we bought Cazorla, Podolski and Giroud. At the time we had a much better squad than United, he said he wanted to win trophies, had he stayed we’d have won the league instead of him carrying our direct rival United over the finish line.
    The club sold Adebayor as RVP hated him. We stood by him through season after season of injury, believing he’d end up being worth it, regularly improving his contract. The club stood by him when serious allegations were made about his private life. In turn we gave him the armband.
    The club and fans did everything for him, don’t believe anything else. If he had gone to Juve/Barca/Bayern etc fair enough, but he, our CAPTAIN, specifically chose our direct rival at the time, thus handing them the league and prolonging our wait for the title, that’s utter disrespect.

    1. nice try, you almost got me, then I quickly realized it was April Fool’s Day…if that’s not the case, I don’t even know were to start when it comes to critiquing this delusional rant…it’s this sort of nonsense that doesn’t allow us to finally move beyond the horrible decisions of our past…haven’t we learned by now that the Kroenke/Wenger ruse involving the Emirates, was just that, a ruse…it’s clear that there was never any truth to the notion that after a brief period of austerity we were going to compete with the best and the brightest footballing organizations in the world…instead this was all about Kroenke not investing a dime, the fans paying his share visa vie the most expensive tickets in Europe, then when it came time to make good on their promises, absolute feathers…feel free to defend yourself, but if you do I will gladly explain why not a single thing you wrote, minus one, has any merit in the REAL world

      1. First of all I think you should drop the condescending tone and over exaggerating. If this is something in your remit we can certainly have a discussion, however if it is not, I feel you have boxed yourself into a rather unfortunate situation with needless hyperbole in an incredibly contradictory rant.
        We brought in more attacking quality; Santi, Podolski, Giroud. That is a fact easily verified.
        We had a better side than United in 2012, admittedly subjective as that is, whilst their defence was stronger our midfield was better than there’s, RVP tipped the balance in their favour. Hardly something that gives you the right to reply with such needless disrespect to a fellow gooner.
        He claimed he wanted trophies, and better players brought in to achieve that, again easily proven, especially given that most fans recall the whole debacle well.
        RVP fell out with Adebayor and the club decided to cash in rather than risk disharmony, and the Togolese man was happy to get out and felt betrayed by the club and fans, hence his horrific celebration against us and the awful stamp on RVP’s face.
        We stood by RVP and kept giving him contracts despite consistent injury, again this is common knowledge.
        When he and other dutch players were implicated in an assault on international duty, the club stood by him. It wasn’t long after we promoted him to captain – I think it was when Cesc left.

        I encourage you to actually read what is written and not what you imagine, as your response is almost completely incoherent and unrelatable to the points I brought up.
        Though if somehow you still feel what I’ve written is false, despite near all of it being common knowledge, please keep your word and show me why almost everything I say is without any merit, I feel it will be a fascinating read.

        1. Nothing you’ve written is wrong that’s pretty much how things happened plus he told Wenger that he would only go to United even though City offered us more money and threatened to run his contract out but he somehow blame us for the fee received !

        2. First and foremost, starting your post with the singular word, traitor, then with a period immediately following, was such an aggressive move that it was abundantly clear that whatever was coming next would undoubtedly be incredibly skewed towards your own personal biases…so for you to even suggest that it was difficult to comprehend how or why anyone might take offence to this position is either incredibly disingenuous or naïve on your behalf

          (1) you suggested that RVP personally made particular demands regarding our piss-poor recruitment policies, which even if true is of little consequence as everyone was voicing a similar refrain at that time…supposedly Gazidis showed him the books to prove we were cash flush with funds to aggressively pursue finished products in the transfer market, yet we never did while RVP was there…we didn’t know for sure at the time, but the purchases you spoke of were all made under the guise that RVP likely wouldn’t re-sign(look at the total spend numbers, RVP’s sale was almost equal to the 3 incoming players)…furthermore, RVP was justified in his suspicions that Arsenal were pretenders as they never spent like they were really competing for things even after the stadium debt ruse had run it’s course

          (2) then you go on to name Caz, Pod and Giroud as evidence that we meant business, which no one at that time felt was the case…Cazorla was little-known, who emerged as a revelation in the years following his arrival, which by the way happened 10 days prior to RVPs official exit…so likely a tad late to the party…Giroud was plying his trade at Montpellier and was a lukewarm signing at best and not even fully appreciated by most until he had left the building…not to mention he was packaged as being RVPs cover, when they were still propagating the notion that RVP was going to stay…don’t you remember how angerly people reacted when it became obvious that he was going to be RVP’s replacement…finally, Pod, who was playing at Koln, when he couldn’t get minutes in Bayern, and was considered as largely an afterthought for most bigger clubs…just another all-too-familiar Wenger reclamation project, where he would bring in players with household names, but well past their respective primes…none of these moves showed considerable intent of our club trying to compete for things…ironically most fans fawned all over Pod, as he was by far the most recognizable of the bunch, even though he was the least likely to have any lasting impact at the club…that said, it does show exactly how few actually rated Cazorla and/or Giroud when they arrived on the scene

          (3) as for Adebayor, the club didn’t move on from him because of RVP’s insistence, unless you have some secret verifiable information that only you’re privy to…if you look at his career you will see a definitive pattern, he rubbed people the wrong way wherever he landed…too bad, as I really enjoyed what he brought to the table, but it is what it is

          (4) you likewise stated we were the much better team…the previous season United came second with 89 points and only lost out to City by goal differential, whereas we, with RVP, came in third, 19 points behind the frontrunners, and we didn’t even secure our European qualifications until the very last match of the season…should I go on?

          1. TRVL, in support of your premise, “the quality of the pudding is in the eating”, who ending up with more trophies after Van Persie went to Manchester United?

          2. No I don’t think you should go on. I think for some insane reason you’ve taken someone’s opinion way too personally. And all you’ve done is state your own opinion and arrogantly assumed it’s worth more. You accused me, in needlessly poor language, of a delusional rant then proceeded to match and exceed that. I appreciate lockdown is hard on people but if this is your approach and total overreaction to someone voicing an opinion of ‘traitor’(aggressive because I used a full stop? I think you’re being excessively defensive, most would just see it as what it is, a stated opinion with punctuation) I feel you need to get some serious help given how a single word clearly triggered you so much. I’m not saying this as a joke or insult but you have blown up in a very worrying way, I hope things are ok for you at home. Starting needless comment section wars isn’t going to help you or anyone, let alone help someone with an opposing view see rationality in yours, especially within the same fanbase.

            Firstly, I’m not the only person to say he’s a traitor but why act so vociferously in this direction? And why do you feel it your god given right to critique another’s opinion in such a forthright and cutting fashion when your very own statements are little more than opinion?

            1 – It was well reported at the time RVP had demanded the club to improve the squad, and he was involved in discussions regarding the future of the club that to be frank, shouldn’t have involved a player:
            “This was a meeting about the club’s future strategy and their policy. Financial terms or a contract have not been discussed, since that is not my priority at all.” He wanted to see us recruit, which is what we did. It was clear he, our club captain, had his heart set on United long before this, similar to how Alexis had with City, only for the Chilean to make a huge mistake.

            2 – Santi was seen as a highly promising CAM to help support our new forwards, hence him being bought later, he proved to be one of our best signings. Giroud showed how he went on to be an incredibly solid player who knew how to bring team-work into our attack, with much needed aerial ability, additionally he proved to be a good signing. Yes I remember we were all frustrated that Giroud ended up being RVP’s replacement, but had RVP stayed, that wouldn’t have been the case. By the time RVP left, we had little chance to find a suitable replacement.
            Podolski was always going to be a risk, but he was certainly no flop, he had excelled on the international stage and Arsene saw potential. Was it matched? Largely no, but near £50m in attacking players brought in 2012 was certainly an attempt to show intent. It was at this point I, as well as many others, felt Arsenal were really about to compete for the title, as on balance our squad looked stronger in several areas than United’s. We had lost points when RVP was unavailable, so brought in players to cover him in the event he got injured. Given the new recruits and how many league points RVP was capable of claiming there is every right to have felt such positivity going into 2012/13.

            3 – RVP and Adebayor didn’t get on, I don’t claim any insider knowledge, all fans were aware of this back then, and all fans saw Adebayor stamp on RVP’s face. The club recognised their fractious relationship and decided to cash in on one as the wage bill was in the red, they decided on Adebayor, even telling the player everyone at the club wanted him to move on. It’s pretty obvious given RVP’s importance at the time that they sided with him, our captain. I’m not saying whether its right or wrong, just that it happened.

            4 – See point 2 from the midpoint onwards.

            Don’t get me wrong, I hate the Kroenkes involvements in our club, I’d rather we went back to the days without billionaire owners. But the whole ‘club bad, player good’ stance isn’t one I agree with, personally I think we’ve got awful owners but some of our players have been little better. And as stated, if RVP wanted to win trophies, why not go to Barca, Juve etc? Instead he totally showed his love for our long standing rival, United, how is that not a traitorous thing to do, especially when captain? Not only that but due to his open affection it meant Arsenal had to take a smaller fee as RVP was in his last year, he held all the cards – we’d tried negotiating with him for a long time prior.
            At the very worst, my original post contained a slight bias toward Arsenal – who’d expect that from an Arsenal fan, eh? Whereas yours have contained utter vitriol, needless overreacting, a worrying amount of analysis of a single word that was punctuated, and ultimately your opinion with it’s own anti-Arsenal bias.

          3. now that would have been a much better post from the get-go…more reasoned and balanced…as to your more “personal” attacks towards myself, I can only assume when you reread our posts you will come to understand, after some quiet self-refection, the irony of you adopting just such a position (you made things far more needlessly personal than was ever warranted)…as you can plainly see, following your toned-down version of the whole RVP situation, our opinions aren’t that vastly different…so I guess, in the end, this was a worthwhile endeavor

  5. Traitor in 2012. Traitor now. We all watched when RVP will get injured in october only to show up in late March when the league is lost. And he did that for a freaking eight seasons! Then suddenly he had a fantastic injury free season, then the (stupid) boy in him chose Utd. He says he wanted a trophy? If he has stayed fit in 08, we would have won the league with us! With Eduarado injured and ADEBAYO off form, Arsenal crumbled. And to eveyone who thinks it’s the board fault, you are entitled to your opinions. Trophies or legendary status? I will chose both but if I I had to chose one. I am legend.

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