How Louis van Gaal told Robin van Persie to leave Manchester United

FILE - Former Manchester United striker Robin van Persie has spoken about how Louis van Gaal ordered him to leave the club. Photo: Reuters

FILE - Former Manchester United striker Robin van Persie has spoken about how Louis van Gaal ordered him to leave the club. Photo: Reuters

Published May 24, 2020

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CAPE TOWN – Former Manchester United striker Robin van Persie has revealed how Louis van Gaal told him to leave the club.

Van Gaal joined Manchester United following the 2014 World Cup, where he led a Dutch side featuring Van Persie to the semi-finals of the tournament. The Netherlands finished third after beating hosts Brazil in the third-place playoff.

Many United fans were excited about the prospect of Van Gaal joining Van Persie at Old Trafford, and many expected to carry their international football relationship into the Premier League.

However, the injury-plagued Van Persie was told to leave United after a year of working together.

“He (Van Gaal) said in a stone hard way ‘you are the player, Robin, and I am the manager. I’m not leaving here – so you have to leave. You are done here in Manchester’.

“My family was settled so I said to him ‘that’s what you think – I have a contract for another year’. Louis just said ‘you still have to go’.

“I asked him to explain where it had gone wrong between us, because I really didn’t understand. Louis just said ‘there is a difference between Louis van Gaal the national manager and Louis van Gaal the club manager’.

“I said ‘we will never agree on this’ and then I got up, shook his hand and left. Have I blamed him for this? It hurt. This had a massive impact on my family.

“Of course, I’d had some injuries. But I even played with pain and I went over the edge. I worked my guts off every day. I always gave absolutely everything. I still found it tough to get that message from him.”

IOL Sport

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