Robin van Persie was shocked by how much harder Manchester United’s players worked after he joined the club from Arsenal, according to Patrice Evra.
Van Persie left Arsenal after eight years to join United for £22.5million in the summer of 2012. The Dutch striker had scored 132 goals in 278 games for the Gunners, but was frustrated after failing to challenge in the Premier League.
He scored 30 league goals in the 2011/12 season to win the Golden Boot with Arsenal, but they still finished third, a whopping 19 points behind champions Manchester City. His decision to jump ship to United was controversial, but immediately paid off as he fired Sir Alex Ferguson’s side to the title in 2012/13 with 26 goals.
Evra says that Van Persie was critical of the work ethic at Arsenal and was stunned by the difference upon his move to Old Trafford. Speaking to his former United team-mate Rio Ferdinand on the Vibe with Five YouTube channel, Evra relayed a conversation he’d had with Van Persie at the time.
“Robin, he'd say: ‘Patrice, I've never seen people so professional. Training the way you're training in the training session’,” Evra said. “He'd say he'd finish the training session, everyone is in the gym. Before training in the gym, after training in the gym.
“That's why he was like: ‘when I was playing at Arsenal, I was still on the pitch and I'd see kids with convertible cars already going to Harrods or whatever’.”
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The United squad for the 2012/13 season was packed with experienced professionals, with Van Persie, Evra and Ferdinand playing alongside the likes of Ryan Giggs, Wayne Rooney, Nemanja Vidic, Michael Carrick and Paul Scholes.
By contrast, Van Persie had just left an Arsenal squad with talented youngsters, but much less experience, with Mikel Arteta and Per Mertesacker in the minority. Wenger’s squad had up-and-coming stars like Jack Wilshere, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Kieran Gibbs, Wojciech Szczesny, Francis Coquelin and Carlos Vela.
Evra also praised the way Ferguson managed to get the best out of Van Persie. The Dutchman was lethal in front of goal, but the veteran United boss knew he needed to be treated differently to the rest of the squad on the training ground.
“I don't know if you remember, the way Ferguson managed Van Persie,” Evra said to Ferdinand. “He knows we are animals, if someone doesn't train we are going to say he doesn't deserve to play.
“But with Van Persie he said: ‘guys, this guy he won't (be) training every day. Sometimes he's going to be on the side training with his own physio. But I have to manage his injury. But this guy is going to win the league for us’.”
