Arsene Wenger sent the world in shock when he authorized the sale of Robin van Persie to Manchester United in 2012.
The Dutch man finished the season as Premier League’s top scorer with Arsenal prior to joining Manchester United in a deal worth £24million.
Robin enjoyed a buzz-worthy debut campaign with the Red Devils, scoring twenty-six goals proving a crucial addition to nudge United to a record 20th Premiership title.
Arsenal’s former transfer negotiator Dick Law, in an exclusive interview with Goal revealed that Manchester United’s offer was too good for the Gunners to turn down.
“We did everything we could to keep Robin,” said Law told Goal.
“He was 29 when he moved; he had a year left and wanted to do his very best in arguably his next-to-last contact – or even his last contract.
“In every case where we attempted in good faith to negotiate with players, we just couldn’t control all the factors.
“We knew how it looked selling to rivals but getting £24m for a 29-year-old was an important piece of business, it set us both up.
“It let Robin pursue a dream that he wanted and he was right, by going to United he won the title that season – but I think by the end of the next season, Sir Alex had left and that was the end of Robin at United.
“You would have to ask him if his calculation worked out. Financially, it worked out for sure, but he ended up moving to Turkey and then back to Feyenoord.
“If he had stayed at Arsenal I’m reasonably sure he would have gone down in history as one of the greats.”
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