The Robin Van Persie transfer saga had rumbled on to the point of boredom, but now that he has finally completed his move to Man United, many will be questioning the wisdom of the Arsenal favourite.
Van Persie looked like he may loyally see out his best years at Arsenal in the vein of former great Thierry Henry, but as Arsenal consistently failed to win any major silverware his patience with the Arsenal badge was tested to the hilt.
Ironically it seems that Arsenal are now in the best position they’ve ever been in to win silverware with the astute acquisitions of a handful of Europe’s best attacking talent. Any combination of Cazorla, Giroud, Podolski, Arteta, Wilshere and Song will form one of the best attacking midfields in Europe. If Van Persie had chosen to spearhead this line up, Arsenal would have been many people’s favourites for the title. The bookies and various online casinos tended to price them at a generous 10/1.
Retaining Van Persie’s services was probably too much to ask, given Wenger’s attitude towards overspending. The way things have worked out, Arsenal won’t be too far out of pocket with Van Persie’s fee being somewhere around the £24 million mark.
Van Persie may be reaching the zenith of his career and Arsenal could no doubt have used his services for another couple of years, but their hand was forced by a Man United side who knew that Van Persie was essential to their 2012/13 campaign. United were looking drastically short in the centre of the park and the signing of RVP looks like just the tonic they needed to strengthen a number of other dependent cogs in the machine.
Rooney will thrive on having an attacking ally with the pace and ingenuity of Van Persie; Scholes will benefit from the burden of creativity being shared amongst team mates; Carrick will flourish in a deeper holding role and Cleverley will develop much quicker as a top final third player. If you want to keep up to date with all the latest scores and transfers try downloading the paddy power app. As well as a huge variety of football statistics you can also access a whole range of casino games such as Blackjack, Roulette or the slot machines.