Robin van Persie Reveals He Almost Moved to Rangers Prior to Arsenal Switch

Manchester United striker Robin van Persie has revealed that he was close to joining Rangers before making the trip to north London as an Arsenal player.

The Dutchman who broke a lot of Arsenal hearts by joining United in 2012, revealed that the Premier League may never have happened if not for Arsenal's timely intervention.

Van Persie is among the best strikers in the world and won the PFA Player of the Year award for the year 2011/12 where he scored 30 goals to get Arsenal into the top four and secure Champions League qualification.

He made the move to Old Trafford in the next season, where he built on his goal scoring form and led United to their 20th league title and the final one under Sir Alex Ferguson, who retired after the end of the season.

"Years ago I was still playing for Feyenoord and I wanted to go there," Van Persie told BT Sport.

"I spoke to Dick Advocaat, who was the manager of Glasgow Rangers and he was interested, I was interested, I was ready to go.

"But they first needed to sell one player before they could buy me, or something like that.

"I was still very young, maybe 19 or 20, but in the end I went to Arsenal," he added.

Van Persie has failed to live up to expectations this season, scoring only thrice in 11 appearances thus far, a meagre return from a player of his calibre. The 30-year-old was substituted for James Wilson in their game against Arsenal in the weekend, a sign of things to come for the prolific striker.

Meanwhile, Manchester United will be looking to build on their important win against the Gunners as they take on Hull City at Old Trafford on Saturday. A win here will boost their confidence and open up a gap between themselves and their nearest rivals coming into a very congested fixture list in December.