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Manchester United, revisiting summer 2012: Transfer successes and fails

By Tom Bogert

MANCHESTER, ENGLAND - AUGUST 17: Robin van Persie (L) and Manager Sir Alex Ferguson of Manchester United pose with a Manchester United shirt after van Persie signed a four year contract with the club at Old Trafford on August 17, 2012 in Manchester, England. (Photo by John Peters/Man Utd via Getty Images)
MANCHESTER, ENGLAND - AUGUST 17: Robin van Persie (L) and Manager Sir Alex Ferguson of Manchester United pose with a Manchester United shirt after van Persie signed a four year contract with the club at Old Trafford on August 17, 2012 in Manchester, England. (Photo by John Peters/Man Utd via Getty Images) /
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Manchester United’s Dutch striker Robin van Persie celebrates scoring the opening goal during the English Premier League football match between Manchester United and Leicester City at Old Trafford in Manchester, northwest England, on January 31, 2015. AFP PHOTO / PAUL ELLISRESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE. No use with unauthorized audio, video, data, fixture lists, club/league logos or live services. Online in-match use limited to 45 images, no video emulation. No use in betting, games or single club/league/player publications (Photo credit should read PAUL ELLIS/AFP/Getty Images)
Manchester United’s Dutch striker Robin van Persie celebrates scoring the opening goal during the English Premier League football match between Manchester United and Leicester City at Old Trafford in Manchester, northwest England, on January 31, 2015. AFP PHOTO / PAUL ELLISRESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE. No use with unauthorized audio, video, data, fixture lists, club/league logos or live services. Online in-match use limited to 45 images, no video emulation. No use in betting, games or single club/league/player publications (Photo credit should read PAUL ELLIS/AFP/Getty Images) /

Robin Van Persie /// £24million /// Success

In a move that simultaneously made United even stronger of an attacking juggernaut while neutering Arsenal’s attack, Van Persie was as strong a reason as any player in the team why United won the title in Ferguson’s last season in charge.

Van Persie scored 26 goals while appearing in all 38 league games, leading the Premier League in goals.

The striker wore the no. 20 at United because with the more illustrious numbers already occupied, assistant coach Rene Meulensteen convinced the striker that he’d help push United to their 20th league title. And he was right.

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Van Persie was unplayable that first season in Manchester, scoring goal after goal. The next two seasons had the dark cloud of injury hanging over them and he barely cracked double-digit goal tallies in both, but that’s beside the point. He was brought in to deliver his own first title as well as United’s 20th and he did both. That’s worth £24million every time.

As he was nearing his 32nd birthday when he moved from United to Fenerbahce last summer, he was only purchased for a fraction of the fee cost to bring him to Manchester. Fenerbahce had to dole out just under £4million for his services.

Van Persie, like Kagawa, got on much better with Ferguson than Moyes or Van Gaal, especially the latter. There seemed to always be negative headlines on the two and the move away from Old Trafford made perfect sense last summer.

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