Robin van Persie criticised the conduct of Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal towards the end of his time at the club.
Van Persie believes that a rift developed between himself and Van Gaal after the Dutch coach decided to leave him on the bench in the April defeat against Chelsea.
“That was one of the first signals things weren’t going in the right direction,” he told the Sunday Times.
“I asked to play in the reserves, to get my minutes, but after was on the bench again. The atmosphere changed between me and Louis and people at the club saw it, but I was always professional.”
Van Persie underlined that he was happy at United and that his family had settled in. The 31-year-old striker underlined that he was used to Van Gaal’s antics from the Netherlands national team.
“At that point I didn’t think to leave. Bouchra was happy. The kids were happy. I was happy in Manchester,” he said.
“He had changed his mind about me before,” he said. “When he took over Holland he said to me ‘You’re the No 3 striker.’ I was ‘O…K…’ but I fought and became the No 1 and his captain.”
The Dutch striker realised that his time at United was up following Van Gaal’s attempt to humiliate him in training.
Van Persie did however, underline that he did not get angry with Van Gaal and just accepted what happened as just being a part of football.
“But when I came back, it wasn’t an honest battle any more. Fighting to get back in the team wasn’t given me as an option. He was sending me to Pitch Two. And I’m a mature player. I’m not stupid. I didn’t get angry or emotional. These things are part of football, part of life. You have to make the best out of any situation so I’m doing this by moving on,” he added.
Van Persie joined Fenerbahçe on a £3.8 million transfer last Tuesday signing a three-year deal becoming the second United to join the Yellow Canaries this summer following Nani joining the club.
