From the Red Side of London to Manchester - The Significance of RVP's Transfer

Some are cheering while some are frowning when they watch and read the news today. Robin Van Persie has finally been allowed to move to Manchester United by Arsene Wenger. Most of Man Utd’s fans are happy. They managed to cure the pain of losing Moura and Hazard by signing Shinji Kagawa and now, RVP – The Captain of Arsenal, one of Man Utd’s fiercest arch-enemy.

However, for some pessimists, they are unsure how would it help Man Utd at all. Funnily, RVP’s arrival to Man Utd is not very much welcomed because Man Utd have Rooney, Welbeck, Chicarito and oddly, 2010/2011′s top scorer, Dimitar Berbatov. “What on earth is on your mind, SAF?” they shout. It must be admitted that this purchase is baffling. Strikers are not the department that Man Utd is lacking (even though they were tonnes of chances missed during the campaign last season) but surely Welbeck and Chica would be better this season and be the strikers that would score goals between them.

There are some reasons why I think SAF is so determined to land RVP. The first reason is to somehow affect Manchester City‘s morale. Mancini is very much interested in RVP and to have him was among his top priorities. Furthermore, it was rumoured that RVP, last season’s top scorer had refused to move to Etihad. Imagine how hurtful would you feel if you were Mancini? The team that supposedly has a bottomless pit of money is being rejected by one of their targets. It surely hit him straight to his heart.

Furthermore, it is very difficult to find a world-class striker that has proven himself in BPL for the amount that Man Utd is paying Arsenal for RVP. Look at Carroll and Torres. Those two strikers cost for almost 90 Million pounds! Some might argue that RVP is going to inherit the bed of Hargreaves and Owen in the dressing room, but hell, 25million for last season’s top scorer isn’t that bad of a business! Every contract signed is a risk; buying Bebe was a risk taken (it backfired, I guess), buying Chicarito was a success. So the chances of a bargain or a flop is equal here. To have TWO world class strikers in your team is a huge boost for any team in the world (ask City, they have more). Given that RVP stays healthy and bangs in the goals, I think that this is a shrewd piece of business.

After RVP’s move is confirmed, rumours has it that Chicarito is looking to move. It might be true, because he is now ranked as third-choice striker (don’t even want to think about Berbatov here). However, if he stays on and regularly gets 20 to 30 matches from this season onward, I could guarantee you that he COULD be our Filipo Inzaghi. Welbeck, Chicarito and Macheda would benefit from the presence of RVP on their training ground. He would have a lot to show them. If they could all look at this transfer positively, they could benefit a lot from it. Furthermore, RVP’s calibre as a leader and world-class player would add to a high level of professionalism in the squad.

Lastly, let’s look at the game play that RVP is bringing on board. Many people say that RVP and Rooney are two similar players in terms of their playing style. However, how often do you see RVP cross the middle section of the field, to get deep and dribble to initiate Arsenal’s attack? I have been watching BPL a lot for the past 8 seasons and I have never seen RVP do it. He is more of a poacher type. You get him the ball in the box, he’ll put it past the goalkeeper. That’s his task. I think Rooney will be more of a striker that will play one-two with Kagawa or any of our wingers and try to get the ball to RVP. With his presence, it will surely send a chill to any defenders that have to deal with them. They both will be difficult to mark. If you were to look at how Man Utd have played after they lost to Barcelona in the CL Final, they have changed their passing game a bit. More short passings in tight angles. However this is not the final transformation yet. When they are losing, they will tend to play direct pass which sometimes are easy to read. Here comes RVP. I am sure that he would share a bit of Arsenal’s “beautiful game” to his team mates now. With his knowledge and guidance, we can expect Man Utd to play different passing games when required (fingers’ crossed).

So, the four reasons above are the thoughts that I am trying to use to convince myself (I am one of the pessimists). I am still a bit uncertain about this transfer but as a Red Devil, I don’t care about it. As long as we can prove Manchester is Red, not Blue, in this season and seasons after, I hope that RVP and Rooney will work just fine together and get the goals to regain our rightful spot – Champion of England and Europe.