Van Persie Felt Absence of Winning Mentality at Arsenal

Rio Ferdinand has revealed that striker Robin Van Persie felt a sea change with he joined Manchester United from Arsenal for around £ 24 million in 2012.

The Dutchman had been used to several years of winning almost nothing at Arsenal. However, he managed to win a league title in his first season at Old Trafford. Immediately upon coming to the club in the summer of 2012, Van Persie reportedly reflected that the club had a wholesale difference in terms of mentality. United were more focused on winning games, which ultimately transformed them into a top team when it comes to challenging for trophies. However, Arsenal did not seem to have any objective, according to Van Persie.

The statements, now revealed by Ferdinand, are a huge insight into Arsenal and the problems at the club. Three consecutive defeats in the last four games made that Arsenal are once again looking set to end the campaign without a Premier League medal.

In fact, they have not come close to winning the league title since the 2003-04 season. Back in the campaign, the club finished the season without a defeat. Van Persie felt that Arsene Wenger had developed a losing mentality from the season onwards. Since then, Arsenal have won two FA Cup trophies in more than 12 years.

“Speaking to Robin van Persie and other friends who had been at Arsenal before moving to winning clubs, they all found the mentality different.Robin said of United: ‘This place is built to win.’ I don’t get the impression it was like that at Arsenal, and maybe the problem’s getting worse.’There was a difference with Manchester United between playing Arsenal and Chelsea away.We would go to the Emirates and say: ‘We’ll outrun and overpower this team, we don’t even have to play good football.’ And invariably we were too strong for them. At Stamford Bridge you could not do that,” said Ferdinand.