Robin Van Persie: Fans Shouldn't Despise RVP After Manchester United Transfer

Now that the Robin van Persie transfer fiasco has been put to an end thanks to his transferring to Manchester United, many Arsenal fans are up in arms about RVP doing his best Benedict Arnold impression.

Disdain for a departing player is to be expected, especially when van Persie had previously made it seem like he had such a vested and emotional interest in helping the Gunners return to glory, but van Persie's departure isn't anything to lose sleep over.

The Arsenal fans are surely going to be a bit bitter towards van Persie for the hullabaloo that he caused—at least until the initial smarting goes away—but they shouldn't despise van Persie for his actions.

When van Persie came to Arsenal in 2004 it was for a relatively decent price. Although he battled a rash of injuries throughout his career, the price the club paid for him can be looked at as a bargain at this point.

Instead of publicly defaming van Persie and calling him a traitor, Arsenal fans should appreciate the close to 100 goals that van Persie notched for the club in Premier League play.

If that isn't enough, fans can take solace in the fact that he was literally the entire team last year. Without van Persie, the Gunners would have finished nowhere near third place in the Premier League and likely would have been somewhere near sixth, seventh or eighth place.

Van Persie's contract would have been up at the end of this coming season anyway. If Arsene Wenger and his players didn't impress van Persie enough—which likely would have meant finishing at the top of the league—he probably would have left for greener pastures.

Cutting his tenure one year short really shouldn't be that big of a deal. The way he went about it was immature and downright ugly, but it is all the same if you look at the results.

Arsenal would have lost van Persie at the end of this season and got nothing in return. After he proclaimed his desire to leave and put on a little song and dance, the Gunners now have upwards of £20 million to pour into other endeavors.

As a fan, it is painful to lose one of the best players on your team. It is especially painful to lose a player like van Persie who has long been a staple in the starting XI at the Emirates.

It may not seem like it, but the way this panned out is for the better. Once van Persie announced that he did not want to return to Arsenal after his contract, nobody should have expected anything other than a heart-wrenching transfer process.