The rejected rarely enjoy reunions.

Reminders of what they have lost can tend to be too painful. They sometimes compensate with vitriol. Robin van Persie's recent meetings with Arsenal have been notable for the unpleasant reception he has received from their fans. Yet if his fall is as chastening as his rise was remarkable, the more pertinent issue is his treatment by the Manchester United powerbrokers.

It is a safe assumption that, barring injuries, he will start Sunday's meeting with Arsenal on the bench. It is an indication of a shift in status. There was a time when Van Persie was Arsene Wenger's perfect nine-and-a-half. That was the positional term the Dutchman coined, a hybrid of a No. 9 and a No. 10, to describe a player the Arsenal manager believed was a hybrid of the two greatest forwards of his reign.

It was high praise: "He is less of a runner than Thierry Henry and he is not completely Dennis Bergkamp because he plays higher up the pitch," said Wenger in 2009. "He can be the best passer in the league and the best goalscorer in the league."

If it seemed hyperbolic then, it didn't by 2012. By then, Van Persie was the double Footballer of the Year, the Premier League's top scorer, the prime target of both Manchester clubs and the man whose signing, ultimately, settled the following season's title race.

He was the efficient aesthete, the flair player turned finisher, the enfant terrible of Dutch football who became Wenger's captain and Sir Alex Ferguson's cheerleader-in-chief. A couple of years ago, there was a case for including Van Persie in the world's top 10 players. Now the question is if he belongs in United's first 11.

Recent evidence suggests not. An increasingly static presence lacks Wayne Rooney's mobility. United's best form of the season came in Van Persie's absence. The successor to Bergkamp and Henry finds himself bracketed with another great goalscorer now, but only if he takes a seat on the bench alongside the sadly impotent Radamel Falcao.

The bare fact is that Van Persie has only started once since suffering an ankle injury at Swansea in February. He missed a penalty as United lost to West Bromwich Albion and was promptly relieved of spot kick duties by manager Louis van Gaal. He is soon to enter the final year of his contract with speculation that United will try and cash in on him, even if his wages are likely to deter buyers. He may be a deluxe squad player, Rooney's understudy or a particularly classy Plan B.

That glorious debut season in Manchester apart, Van Persie, who has exhibited a wonderful sense of the dramatic on the field, increasingly appears to have an unfortunate capacity to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. United finished ahead of Arsenal in each of his last seven seasons as a Gunner, but while he won the title that eluded him in London, Van Persie has since experienced the ignominy of the worst season at Old Trafford in a quarter of a century and an expensive grind to fourth place.