Robin van Persie still remembers the warnings from his friends as he prepared to swap Arsenal for Manchester United. It was one of the Premier League’s more controversial transfers, a deal which prompted a bitterness that still lingers today, but Van Persie’s friends were more concerned about his lifestyle than about any of the anger that emanated from the red half of north London.

“When I was about to make the move, friends of mine said, ‘ooh you are going to Manchester. It’s going to be raining, it’s going to be this, it’s going to be that,’” Van Persie says. “But we had a fantastic time. The people were so nice. In London, everything is so rushed and people don’t really have time for each other. In Manchester, everyone has time. Everyone is so polite. ‘You want to go for lunch? Yeah, why not?’ It was a very nice feeling.”

Seven years on, Van Persie is back in England. Not as a player, but in a new guise as a pundit for BT Sport. Having retired at the end of last season, he can look back on his playing career — more than 270 goals from nearly 600 appearances for Feyenoord, Arsenal, United and Fenerbahce — from a different perspective and use those experiences to provide “honest and open” analysis of the Premier League and its biggest stars.