CAPE TOWN – Former Arsenal and Manchester United striker Robin van Persie has called Sir Alex Ferguson the best manager he ever played under.
Van Persie rated the Scot higher than Arsene Wenger and Louis van Gaal, whom he also played under during his glittering 18-year-career.
After spending eight years in north-London, where he won a solitary FA Cup title with the Gunners, Van Persie moved up north to Manchester United, where he immediately formed an impressive partnership with Wayne Rooney and helped United win their 20th league title in his first season.
“Ferguson really was a super manager,” the Dutchman wrote in the book LVG – The Manager and the Total Person.
“It was so brilliant how he always kept the entire squad happy and focussed. Wenger was a combination of Ferguson and Van Gaal.
“Arsene always emphasised all the positive things and he looked at what would work for the long term.
“Tactically he [Van Gaal] is a genius. You can’t deny that. I have had managers who had their own strengths. But Ferguson really was a super manager.”