Former-Arsenal midfielder, Emmanuel Frimpong, has revealed why Robin Van Persie left the club in order to join fierce-rivals, Manchester United.
Frimpong, who is now in Russia, admitted that wage demands were the issue as The Gunners refused to meet the striker’s demands, despite being able to afford what he was asking.
Van Persie swapped the Emirates for Old Trafford back in 2012 and guided his new club to their 20th Premier League title in his first year there and since then, it was believed that Van Persie chose to leave after having different goals than the club.
However, Frimpong has now revealed that Van Persie’s wage demands were not met and that is why he left.
Frimpong said: “Van Persie is one of the kindest people I know. He spent many years at Arsenal and played great.
“You know, the problem of Arsenal is with money.
“Imagine that you are playing for Arsenal, you have a contract for two years.
“The contract ends, and they say: ‘We are ready to offer you a new one.’ And you’re like: ‘Excellent, I want to sign. £20k a week?. And Arsenal say: ‘no, we will give you only 15′.
“Although they could pay 20 they do not want too.
“Therefore, the players leave Arsenal, and this is their problem.
“Nowadays to get the big players you have to pay a lot of money, so everything is arranged.
“If you want to play a star, you have to pay them a lot. Now Arsenal have changed and they signed Sanchez, before they would not have done that.”
Written by Alex Batt – @AlexBatt – @AlexsArticles
