Van Persie Excited By Depay's Transfer To United

Robin van Persie knows what it takes to transfer from the Eredivisie to the Barclays Premier League and the United striker admits he's “excited” to see how his Netherlands team-mate Memphis Depay handles the transition.

Van Persie came through the youth system at Feyenoord and joined Arsenal in 2004, where he spent eight seasons before making the switch to Old Trafford in 2012. Similarly, Depay is a product of PSV Eindhoven and will soon join Louis van Gaal’s ever-improving squad after recently passing a medical at the Aon Training Complex.

By all accounts, van Persie and Depay have forged a strong bond that began when the latter debuted for the Dutch national team in October 2013. Since then, they’ve made six appearances together under van Gaal and his managerial successor Guus Hiddink.

The two forwards are currently on international duty for a friendly match with USA - which will be shown live on MUTV - and an important European Championship qualifying tie in Latvia.

Speaking exclusively to ManUtd.com before the end of the domestic season, van Persie was asked for his thoughts on 21-year-old Depay joining him at United.

“Yeah, I am looking forward to it,” explained Robin. “I have been working with him for the last year or so with Holland, so I know him quite well.

"I am excited for him. He has made a big move to Manchester United and it will be interesting to see how he will do, and how he will take on this challenge.”

One man who can vouch for the relationship between van Persie and Depay is Dutch journalist Thijs Slegers, of Voetbal International, who is confident the young player can learn a lot from his older, more experienced team-mate.

However, as Slegers told ManUtd.com earlier this week, Memphis is strong enough to go it alone: “Robin has been good with Memphis and he can continue to impact positively on his progression,” he said. “But the thing with Memphis is that he doesn’t need that much help.

"What he has achieved so far in his career he has done largely by himself. Of course he had help from players, trainers and managers, but he had a tough youth and managed to deal with that to get where he is today.”