After deciding that he wanted to leave Arsenal, Robin van Persie had a choice between signing for Manchester United or Manchester City. It is likely he would have won the league at whichever club he chose. Thankfully the little boy inside him was screaming for him to join United and he won the league with us. Speaking to the official site, Van Persie has claimed he never had any doubts that United were the right club for him.
“I wouldn’t have moved if I’d had doubts,” he said. “Instead, from day one I was almost certain we’d win trophies – not in a couple of years but this year. I saw the players training, I saw the way they behaved, the way they lived, their mentality, the way the staff worked, the way the manager and the staff acted… When all those elements combine you end up with a team of champions. It also helps when you have so many players who know how to win. After Manchester City lost at Tottenham I noticed a real focus in the squad. Suddenly the Villa game was like a final: win the match and you get a trophy. I could see in everybody’s faces how determined they were.”
With just two/three games remaining, Van Persie has scored more goals than any other player. He is 2 goals clear of Luis Suarez, who will miss the rest of the season through suspension, and 5 clear of Gareth Bale. Van Persie would like to win it but that the league title was definitely his priority.
“It would be nice, but the main thing for me was to win the league,” he said. “Even if I’d have scored half the number of goals and we’d won the league I’d still have been happy. The Golden Boot would be like a bonus. In a way it’s not an honest award – even if you end up with the most goals in a season, those goals are the team’s goals and many will have been made possible by other players. They should make a Golden Boot for the whole team.”
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