Robin Van Persie on why he joined Manchester United from Arsenal

Robin van Persie explained the reason for him joining Manchester United.

It was on this day in 2012, the Dutchman completed a £24 million move to United after playing eight seasons at Emirates.

After the transfer he even penned a letter to fans and explain his reasons for leaving Arsenal.

But Arsenal supporters labelled the Dutchman a traitor for leaving for greener pastures.

Now, seven years later, he has tried to explain why he left Arsenal.

There were rumours that Wenger was willing to make the striker the highest- paid player at the club.

However, Van Persie on BT Sport said no such offer was put forward.

Speaking at BT Sport, he said: “You can compare [me being at Arsenal] to being married. Me and my wife – Arsenal – were married for eight years.

“After eight years, my wife, possibly got a bit tired of me. Those are the facts.

“If Arsenal are not offering you a new deal… you can have different views on things but the fact is Arsenal never offered me a new deal.

“Then you have a look around. I was ambitious. I still wanted to win the league. That is life.

“I ended up having three options. One option abroad disappeared quickly. Then it was City or Manchester United.

“What people don’t know, during the transfer, loads of things are happening behind the scenes.

“You have to take a lot on and make a choice based on what your targets are but also deal with the facts.

“One of the main facts was that Arsenal got tired of me. That was the starting point – they didn’t offer me a new deal.

“We had loads of chats with Wenger, with [Ivan] Gazidis. They gave me no decision to make.”

Regardless of your opinion of @Persie_Official, just give this revealing interview 7 minutes of your Saturday as he tells his side of the story about leaving Arsenal.

As he says, it’s taken him almost a decade to be ready to talk about it… pic.twitter.com/2uHbPuEVA3
— Jake Humphrey (@mrjakehumphrey) August 17, 2019