£23m is a nifty piece of business for a semi to permanently crocked striker who when he can play healthy scores. The good thing too is that this bit of business was resolved so quickly before it became a major drag on the season’s start.
Truth be told, RVP has been a peripheral figure in Arsenal’s recent existence which explains why his departure doesn’t have the same gut wrenching quality as say Cesc Fabregas last year. It was serendipitous Van Persie managed to remain healthy last season to score all those goals and help Arsenal to third place and a Champions League spot. That was a good bit of work too.
RVP’s departure is yet another sign of a waning Arsenal vs Man Utd rivalry that has been one sided to the extreme in the recent past. But it is doesn’t feel so onerous because the overwhelming debt obligations of both clubs are now major preoccupations, more so in the case of Utd.
This deal is a strange bit of reversal from Utd’s policy of never spending money on a player over 26 years because of diminishing resale value and the only exception and it was an egregious one was the £31m they spent on Dimitar Berbatov whom they cannot get rid off. RVP also has to settle personal terms but he’s expected to get nothing less than £200,000 per week and if you compute that over four years then Utd are forking out about £60- £65m for him.