Robin van Persie returned to Eredivisie giants Feyenoord from Fenerbahce but held talks with Championship club Aston Villa beforehand.
Robin van Persie has proved since returning to where it all began in January that there is life in the old dog yet.
The 34-year-old signed for Feyenoord on a free transfer in January, 14 years after he left Rotterdam to begin his Premier League career with Arsenal. And it is like he has never been away.
Van Persie has scored five goals in just three Eredivisie starts for Feyenoord and netted his seventh overall in the KNVB Cup final against AZ Alkmaar on Sunday. A glorious first-time chip set Gio van Bronkhorst’s side en route to a 3-0 win – Van Persie’s first ever piece of silverware in Dutch football.
So it is interesting to wonder whether or not Aston Villa manager Steve Bruce will be regretting turning down the former Manchester United star in January.
“He was wanting to come out of Turkey and we looked at it long and hard,” Bruce told the Birmingham Mail of RVP, who had his contract at Fenerbahce cancelled. “It’s not often you get the availability of somebody like Robin van Persie.
“At the moment, with what we’ve got in that position and the amount of 30-year-olds we’ve got I just decided that it’s better we look elsewhere.”
Lewis Grabban did arrive in January instead and has scored seven goals in nine games, firing Villa into the end-of-season play-offs.
But with all due respect, Grabban cannot match Van Persie’s ability to win a game on his own with a moment of magisterial quality; the sort of magic only truly world class goal-scorers can produce at crucial moments.
With Van Persie saying on Sunday that he cannot guarantee he will stay at Feyenoord beyond this summer, Villa might have the chance to sign him again in a few weeks. That is something they really should consider, especially if they navigate the play-offs and seal a return to the Premier League.
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