“It took a bit of time but the player wanted to come. I think that was the key to it all and that opened the door for us. He told the other clubs he didn't want to play for them, he wanted to play for Manchester United. So, in that sense, it made it a little bit easier for us in terms of the negotiations but Arsene was still wanting top dollar and he fought hard to get the price he got, which I think was a good price for them.

”It was the first time I've had to speak to a manager for a long while, “ added the boss. ” When I first came down, the old way of doing things was I'd phone the manager to negotiate and the two chairmen or secretaries would get together to finalise it. Those days are gone now. I suppose with the advent of agents' involvement in deals, I'll quite happily sit out of it because I can't be bothered with it. Our chief executive David Gill does all that now, you know, but in this situation I think the phone call to Arsene helped.”

“I am looking forward to following in the footsteps of so many great strikers,”

“Bringing my experience and playing my part to help the team compete for the biggest trophies in the game.”

Van Persie put pen to paper and spoke of the ‘little boy’ inside him screaming to join United and made clear the time was right to start winning personal honours, without openly ever criticising his former club.he said.