Robin Van Persie will never go down among Arsenal fans as one of their greats, after sealing a controversial move to Manchester United last summer.
Following that move, which has seen the Dutchman fit seamlessly into the United squad, Van Persie has said a few things which have not exactly endeared himself to the already unhappy Arsenal fans.
Sure, at the end of the day there are not too many people who can say that the Dutchman's decision was the right one considering United are 15 points clear at the top, with Arsenal again only fighting for a place in the Champions League.
However, his latest comments are sure to irritate a lot of the Arsenal fans.
Van Persie claimed that he had been scouted by Sir Alex Ferguson and Manchester United during his time at Feyenoord and before he signed for Arsenal as a youngster.
That revelation is not the problem though; it is the part where he makes a comment about a "big club."
"Sir Alex Ferguson once sent a scout over to Holland to watch me when I was a young player at Feyenoord," he is quoted as saying by Daily Mirror. "But I was sent off that afternoon and the scout went back to England with that in his report.
"Sir Alex mentioned that to me when I arrived at United. He felt I was not yet ready for a move to a big English club all those years ago -- and he was right. I said to the boss 'you were right then, but I am ready now.'"
These quotes can be misconstrued of course, and it is easy to read too much into it, but it is hard to look past the fact that Van Persie probably never considered Arsenal as a big club, despite seeing the likes of Dennis Bergkamp, Thierry Henry and Patrick Vieira lead the team to the Premier League title unbeaten the season before he joined.
Arsenal also went on to the win the F.A. Cup and reach the Champions League final in Van Persie's first two seasons.
Adding to the hurt could be if Manchester United end up winning the title at Arsenal, with the two teams set to meet in the Premier League late in April, three weeks after the Manchester Derby.
"My goal was to win the treble," Van Persie added. "I wanted the Premier League, the Champions League and the F.A. Cup.
"Now we only have the double and, yes, I think we could win the title at Arsenal or even against Manchester City. But I really don't care where we win it. I just want to grab that league title."
