The last trophy Robin van Persie lifted was the FA Cup in 2005 when United were robbed by Arsenal at Cardiff. Both teams were “in transition” at the time with Chelsea easily winning the league.

Since then, United have won four league titles, the European Cup, three League Cups and the World Club Cup, whilst Arsenal have won nothing.

Van Persie reckons the barren years at Arsenal turned him grey but he is looking forward to the probability of winning the title this season with United.

“That I’ll probably win my first championship is very nice,” he said. “I’m really thrilled about it. Not winning titles has given me quite some pain and it has made me greyer. It still has to happen. We have to go to Sunderland and West Ham, and we have to play Chelsea and if we win, we play back-to-back against City in the league and the FA Cup semi-final. Then we have Stoke. These are not summer-night games. I watched United drop the lead last season but it’s getting awfully close now, and I’m really happy with that.”

When Van Persie joined United in the summer several Arsenal fans called him a mercenary, claiming he was only leaving them for the money. A few months later, Van Persie is showing them exactly why he left, with a Premier League winners medal in touching distance. However, Van Persie doesn’t regret waiting until this season to join United.

“I think my move to United came at exactly the right time,” he said. “It shouldn’t have been any earlier or any later. Arsenal was for eight years the place to be. But last summer was the perfect moment to sign for United.”