Sir Alex initially dismissed Man Utd star he credited for last ever trophy
Legendary Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson almost rejected the signing of title-winning striker Robin van Persie - because he was apparently too old.
The Red Devils sealed the signature of the Dutch forward from Arsenal in the summer of 2012. They paid Arsenal £24m for his services as he switched the Emirates for Old Trafford.
United’s move for Van Persie was an inspired one as he scored 30 goals during his debut campaign. That form was key to Ferguson rounding off his long stint at the club with yet another Premier League title, something that the Scot firmly believes.
Speaking ahead of his induction into the Premier League Hall of Fame, he said: “To be honest with you, I think the signing of Van Persie, won us the league with his 29 goals that season. He was fantastic.
“He was that thrust in the last third of the field and the goal he scored against Aston Villa from Wayne Rooney ’s pass to win the league, you couldn’t have got a better goal than that.”
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Despite that assessment, Ferguson wasn’t always so sold on the idea of signing the former Arsenal striker. When initially approached with the idea by right-hand man Rene Meulensteen, a move was initially rejected.
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"I think it was in January, I got a call from Robin's agent," Meulensteen revealed on talkSPORT, "he said 'Robin's not going to extend his contract [at Arsenal], he wants to stay in England … and he wants to play for Manchester United and also for Sir Alex Ferguson.
"I thought, that's a bit of a statement, and the only thing I can do is ask. So I walked into his office and I said 'Robin van Persie is interested in joining us, what do you think?' and he said, 'Nah, he's too old', he was 27 at the time [he was actually 28], had a bit of an injury record. And I said, 'Ah, we'll look into that, I wouldn't dismiss it straight away'.
"We had more discussions and we said 'this teams needs something, they need a spark', so what I did is I asked some of the senior players during training, if we could get [Luka] Modric, Van Persie, or this guy, who would you pick? And most of them said, 'Well Robin would be brilliant'."
Van Persie spent three seasons in all with the Red Devils and put together a stunning record of 58 goals in 105 appearances in all competitions. He was eventually allowed to leave in 2015 with a move to Turkish side Fenerbahce.
The striker then rounded off his career with boyhood club Feyenoord, eventually hanging up his boots in 2019. Van Persie has embarked on a coaching career with the Dutch side since then.
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