In 2014 Robin van Persie became third in the World Cup under Louis van Gaal. At Manchester United the break came – with icy cold words, as van Persie remembers.
At FC Bayern Louis van Gaal became a “celebration beast”, won the double with the Munich team in 2010 and moved into the Champions League final, but also left scorched earth with his idiosyncratic manner.
Not only in Munich, but also at his previous stations van Gaal’s sometimes rugged manner was a constant source of irritation – and after his departure from Germany he confirmed his reputation with Manchester United, among others.
This was also felt by his fellow countryman Robin van Persie, who still vividly remembers how van Gaal once told him that he had to leave the Red Devils – just one year after the two of them had reached third place together with the Dutch national team at the 2014 World Cup.
Van Gaal on van Persie: “Your time is up
“Last season, I had this conversation with Louis van Gaal. I had two good years with the national team, but my last season in Manchester, his first, wasn’t so great,” van Persie recalls in Jake Humphrey’s High Performance Podcast.
Among other things, an ankle injury had slowed down the offensive star.
“So I had this conversation with van Gaal and he told me: ‘Okay Robin, I’m the coach, you’re the player, you’ve got to go. Your time is up'”, van Persie reveals.
He told his coach that he still had a contract with ManUnited, “but he just said, ‘I don’t care! I had seen this coming, but not as ruthlessly and in the way he said it.”
Especially difficult at that moment was the thought of his family, who were very happy in England at the time, van Persie says looking back.
Change from Manchester United to Fenerbahce
So he reminded van Gaal of his valid contract and explained that one would see what would happen: “Then I shook his hand and stood up.”
But van Persie was quickly shown the immediate consequences. “We started the pre-season preparation and I wasn’t even allowed to play in the eleven-on-two,” reported the 2010 World Championship runner-up.
His departure from Manchester was finally sealed shortly afterwards: In July 2015 van Persie moved to Fenerbahce in Turkey for around 6.5 million euros.
In summer 2019, the now 36-year-old finally ended his active career with his youth club Feyenoord Rotterdam.