Van Persie completes move to Fenerbahce from Manchester United

By foxsports
Published

Robin van Persie was unveiled as a Fenerbahce player on Tuesday afternoon at a signing ceremony for his move from Manchester United.

The 31-year-old striker arrived in Istanbul over the weekend to finalise the transfer and was introduced at the club's Sukru Saracoglu Stadium where he signed forms in front of thousands of fans.

"I'm humbled to see that so many great fans came today to greet me and to welcome me to your family," the Dutchman told the crowd.

"I promise you one thing; I will do everything in my power to help Fenerbahce win as many trophies to make you guys happy because if I see today, I can only imagine how it would be if you win the league what kind of party that would be.

"I hope I can share that with you guys. Let's do it together."

Van Persie will depart Old Trafford after scoring 58 goals over three years, with 30 of those coming during his maiden campaign in 2012-13 when he fired United to an unprecedented 20th top-flight title in Sir Alex Ferguson's last season in charge.

He was the Barclays Premier League's leading marksman in back-to-back seasons between 2011 and 2013, swapping Arsenal for United in-between in a £24million move.

The Dutchman was seen as the missing piece for United when he joined in 2012 and his goal-laden first term at Old Trafford helped provide Ferguson with a fitting send-off.

However, Van Persie's role gradually diminished under first David Moyes and then his old Holland manager Louis van Gaal as a series of niggling injuries hampered him.

And, having signed Matteo Darmian, Bastian Schweinsteiger and Morgan Schneiderlin in recent days, Van Gaal has continued to shake up his squad by offloading the man who was his captain when he took Holland to the World Cup semi-finals last summer.

Van Persie's exit appears to leave Van Gaal light of options in attack, with only Rooney, James Wilson and the injured Javier Hernandez - out with a broken collarbone and not in the pre-season squad out in the United States - in the squad.

Van Persie will link up with his former United team-mate Luis Nani, who joined Fenerbahce earlier this summer, in Turkey while Raul Meireles is also in the Istanbul club's ranks.