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Robin Van Persie - A Necessity Or A Luxury?

In the past few days, Arsenal’s talismanic striker Robin van Persie has been strongly linked with Manchester United. The Mirror claimed that Sir Alex Ferguson has told close friends that he’s confident of getting his man, other major publications and media outlets confirmed that Manchester United have indeed bid for the Dutchman and Sir Alex Ferguson also took to the official website to confirm that Manchester United’s interest is real, however is his signature really necessary?

Robin van Persie is a world class footballer at the peak of his powers. Signing such a player has become somewhat a rarity at Manchester United; the last being wantaway Bulgarian striker Dimitar Berbatov, and before that, the signings of Rio Ferdinand and Juan Sebastian Veron 10 and 11 years ago. 37 goals last season confirmed that Robin van Persie is currently one of the most prolific strikers in world football. At a price of around £20million, Robin van Persie will surely be one of the bargains of the summer.

The prospect of a Rooney and van Persie partnership is itself mouthwatering. Having last seasons two top Premier League goalscorers and two of the most prolific strikers in world football would be unparallelled to any team in Europe. Manchester United’s attack would be up there with the best of them. Question marks will be put as to how the two attackers as well as other strikers Danny Welbeck, Javier Hernandez and attacking midfield new boy Shinji Kagawa will be accomodated however it’s hard to believe that Sir Alex Ferguson would be in the race to sign Robin van Persie if he didn’t have a plan to give each player a sufficient amount of football as to not hinder their progress.

Looking at the potential signing of Robin van Persie from another angle, the goalscoring burden on Wayne Rooney has been heavy in recent seasons. Last season Wayne Rooney scored 34 goals. Danny Welbeck and Javier Hernandez were 2nd top goalscorers with a return of just 12 goals each for the season. Having lost the Premier League title on goal difference, maybe this is a position that Sir Alex Ferguson feels strongly about strengthening; both in depth and reliability. For Manchester United this could be an important signing. Even in the absence of Wayne Rooney from matchday squads, if Robin van Persie was to be a Manchester United player, there would be a certain confidence going into each game that we can win.

Robin van Persie at Feyenoord

Despite being 28 years old, having never really relied on his pace, Robin van Persie should have a very good 3 or 4 years with the sort of form he has been showing over the past 18 months. Manchester United had proclaimed that due to his age, Dimitar Berbatov would be the last signing of his kind, but with Sir Alex Ferguson confirming our interest in the Dutchman it’s clear that his age is not off-putting. Injuries have been a concern throughout van Persie’s time at Arsenal but with the goalscoring burden potentially being shared by two top strikers, keeping the Dutchman fresh shouldn’t be too much of an issue.

There haven’t been any substantial additions to Manchester United’s midfield since the summer of 2007, 5 years ago, when both Anderson and Owen Hargreaves joined the club. Hargreaves has since left the club and Anderson is yet to fulfill the promise he had shown when he joined the club as a teenager. Tom Cleverley’s first season as a regular saw him ruled out through ankle injury.

Robin van Persie Fact File

  • Robin van Persie was born 6 August 1983
  • He signed for Feyenoord, his hometown club, age 15 with whom he won the UEFA Cup in 2002
  • He moved to Arsenal in 2004 for £2.75m
  • He recently declared he would not extend his contract with Arsenal which has one year left to run on it

Darren Fletcher had also been ruled out through illness and there is still no definite date for a return to football. Manchester United last season had to rely on Michael Carrick and Paul Scholes who returned from retirement in the January window. This is the area which really needs to be improved both in depth and quality. With funds being limited in recent seasons it could be plausible to believe that signing Robin van Persie could mean that signing a top class central midfielder may not happen this summer. Is this a compromise that we could accept making?

Regardless, I still feel that the signing of Robin van Persie would be an important one for our club. Being a footballer of world class talent, a player like Robin does not become available on the transfer market too often. He is a player that will for sure improve whichever team he joins, and I’m hopeful the team he will be improving this summer is Manchester United.

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By Vikesh Chevli

I blog and tweet Manchester United. Follow me on twitter http://www.twitter.com/iconicnumber7

8 replies on “Robin Van Persie - A Necessity Or A Luxury?”

Yeah, I agree there Vik – not sure where I sit on it? Obviously would love to get someone with Robin’s talent (you’d be crazy not too), but like you said are there other area’s that need more attention? It’s certainly exciting thinking about what our front line could look like next season!

Then I wonder if this is an early sign of Rooney potentially leaving United? Going to be an interesting (and probably frustrating!) couple of weeks!

Cheers Vik, great post!

If Rooney sees United signing van Persie, the partnership upfront will be magnificent so why would he leave anyways ?

If there was any chance we could actually sign him, it’d be a great move for the club. Not what we need tactically, as you’ve said, but it’d make us formaidable and we still have three class central midfielders. Albeit none that can tackle.

That said, there’s no way we’ll sign him, making it a glorious long-running disappointment. Forever.

In my opinions which I expressed recently @ManUnited_Show. The buy of RVP will be both a luxury & a necessity? United need a big squad in order to compete at the highest level. Our bench must have players who can change the game totally; therefore the purchase of RVP will be in this case a necessity.
Fans are saying if we buy RVP,where does this leave Hernandez and Welbeck? Let me remind fans that in 1999 when we won the Treble. We had a big strike force with the like of Yorke, Cole, Sheringham and Solskjær.
Michael Owen left the club and with the imminent departure of Dimitar Berbatov set to leave a gap in the club’s strike force.
Let’s see if Arsene Wenger sales RVP to ManU or City. It will a miracle if sales to United.
Finally, a player like RVP 29, would it not make more sense to use that money to pay extra for Moura who will be a better resale value.

He definitely will increase the strength of the squad and could find a great partnership with Rooney. Considering owen gone and berba on the verge to, I would say a world class striker could be a necessity. Our midfield has a good option now with scholes, carrick, giggs, kagawa, cleverly, powell a great prospect and the likes of lingered and petrucci should be good enough to mix it up. Certianly a left back as good as baines would be ideal. We had offered at least 27 mill for Moura so why not spend it rather on persie in the range of 20 to 25 and sell berba and anderson and put it together to buy baines.
Besides I don’t think RVP will go to city since they have a big force of tevez, aguero, dzeko and balotelli who deliver the strikes. He might not start all the times there and the rumor is that RVP hates Mancini and Tevez, but who knows how events change. Lets hope for the best
Great article Vik!! Cheerz
GGMU

Great article Vik, I haven’t been the most confident he could be our “cataylst signing” but I’m pretty sure if he does come, that strike force will strike fear into most of Europe, not just the premier league.

It’s a good Quest. I think our strike force wasn’t up to the standard last season.Welbeck is improving all the time but he is still young.I have to say we relied on Rooney alot but at the same time, he hasn’t hit top form for us for past 2 seasons, that’s y I think SAF want RVP.He wants 2 top class strikers with one taking from the other if not in form and when that’s the case its gna be gud for Wel and Chicha development with no added pressure. Re CM we may still go for Nuri Sahin I also think he can do a good job for us.In the big games we can’t really rely on carrick but maybe he’d give Ando n Clevz a chance till january or next season to prove their fitness.
One point u didn’t mention is our LB. I wouldn’t make a fuss abt if we hadn’t announced that we were loaning Fabio before last season even finished.I thought we had a plan to cover for that but I’m nw really disappointed that we haven’t found cover for Evra from inside the club or outside n that’s really weird.We literally have on LB in the team. So Unlike MUFC. So, r we gonna buy a LB before the transfer window shuts?What do u think?

None can say that he may not get much oppurtunities to play in Man City. He will definitely, if he has the potential. Take a look at the number of oppurtunities Aguero gets there. I think he will be settled well in both Man City and the reds. The team he shifts to will be the team who pays good,in my opinion.

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