Robin Van Persie will always be held in high regard at Manchester United.
The Dutchman is preparing to return to Old Trafford on Thursday evening with current team Fenerbahce and is sure to receive a warm welcome from the club he helped to the Premier League title in 2013.
The former United Player of the Year moved on in 2015, two years after the departure of Sir Alex Ferguson, but he has now admitted that the legendary manager’s retirement played a big part in his own decision to quit the north-west.
“We will never know. It could have been that I could have been a player for Manchester United today,” he told Sky Sports.
“When I signed that was the idea, that Sir Alex would stay on for a few more years, but in football things change, you can’t plan your own path or your coach’s path.”
As it turned out, he played just one season under Ferguson, and things weren’t the same under the Scotsman’s successors David Moyes and Louis van Gaal.
United fans will no doubt be delighted to see him back if he does feature for the Turkish side in the Europa League tie, but they will be even more pleased with an attacking performance from their own players given the way in which they set up against Liverpool on Monday.
Jose Mourinho cannot afford to gain a reputation like Van Gaal’s for being overly cautious, so here’s hoping United come out all guns blazing.
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