Offloading Robin van Persie Gives Manchester United Transfer Market Flexibility

For a club that has often provoked amusement in recent seasons for its many, often oddly specific, commercial tie-ups, it is an unofficial arrangement that is proving to be Manchester United’s most lucrative partnership this summer.

Having offloaded the unwanted winger Nani on Fenerbahce already this summer, it looks like the Istanbul club are on the verge of helping out United once more—by taking striker Robin van Persie off the Premier League side’s hands, as reported by the Guardian's Emre Sarigul and Marcus Christenson.

Perhaps taking advantage of Fenerbahce’s new aggression in the transfer market this summer (a new sporting director has seemingly revitalised their approach), both deals are great news for United. For a club with an “official soft drinks partner (Nigeria),” it is surely only a matter of time before Fenerbahce are formally confirmed as their “official deadwood partner (Turkey).”

Many United fans might think back on Van Persie’s storming 2012-13 season (when his goals propelled the club to their most recent Premier League title) and wonder if this is a deal being done in haste, but Van Gaal has obviously made his decision with the last two campaigns—where fitness invariably affected Van Persie’s performances and availability—in mind.

For Van Gaal, the transfer fee (£4.7 million, as reported in most quarters) is almost incidental; it is removing Van Persie’s wages (almost certainly north of £200,000-a-week) that is the primary concern. With the striker turning 32 in the next few weeks, it is not unreasonable to assume his best days have now passed him, and United were paying him far too much for his recent level of contribution.

With Nani sold, Radamel Falcao’s loan not extended and Van Persie on the verge of departing, Van Gaal has probably slashed in the region of £600,000 off the club’s weekly wage bill, which amounts to more than £30m a year.

That is a huge pot of money to be invested in new talent, especially when you consider that the significant difference between UEFA’s financial fair play rules and those of the Premier League is a limit on the amount you can increase your wage bill each season (no more than £4m, plus whatever increase in year-on-year commercial revenue the club has). United, whose commercial arm is always tapping new markets, will not have to worry about that now.

What is more, the charity of Turkish clubs might not be over, with Galatasaray linked with a deal for another unwanted squad member, Rafael da Silva, as reported by the Guardian's Jamie Jackson. Istanbul must be quickly becoming Ed Woodward’s favourite city: If Rafael does join Gala, United will pretty much have shifted every unwanted member of their squad to the Turkish capital this summer, bar perhaps Javier Hernandez (“Hey, Besiktas, it’s Ed. Listen, have I got the perfect striker for you!”).

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Once Van Persie’s exit is finalised, Van Gaal will be able to focus almost exclusively on the players he wants to bring in before the transfer window closes. His compatriot’s exit will mark the shifting of approach for United, although the ongoing uncertainty surrounding goalkeeper David De Gea (a player who, in an ideal world, United would undoubtedly want to keep) may complicate things slightly.

Financially, Van Gaal and the board will know exactly how much they have to spend (especially once the Sky Sports-reported deal for Matteo Darmian—hardly an expensive outlay anyway—is confirmed) and exactly who they want to target with those funds.

A centre-back seems one obvious area to address—even if both Mats Hummels and Sergio Ramos, seemingly the initially preferred options, now look out of reach—but Van Persie’s exit undoubtedly heightens the need to find another striker before the summer window closes.

Indeed, that perhaps becomes the overriding priority for the club—and perhaps becomes the biggest concern for the fans.

At the moment, Wayne Rooney and James Wilson (who is still very raw) are United’s only real striking options, with Hernandez seemingly unfancied by Van Gaal—"When you score a goal, are you suddenly different?” the Dutchman famously said, somewhat dismissively, after the on-loan Real Madrid forward scored the winner against Atletico Madrid in the Champions League (per the Daily Star). “I don't think so."

The rigours of the modern game seem to demand four top-level strikers in a major club’s squad, so even if Van Gaal retains Hernandez for another season he will want at least one (and, realistically, two) established forwards to supplement his options.

Memphis Depay, signed at the end of last season, can play in a central role, but his real value to the team, in his first few seasons at least, would seem to be the injection of invention he can bring from wider areas.

Who United will target remains to be seen: Potential options like Carlos Bacca, Jackson Martinez, Paulo Dybala, Luciano Vietto and Mario Mandzukic have all already moved this summer, thinning the field of options somewhat (that is not to say that United were interested in any of them, of course, merely that those are high-calibre strikers who were available).

Who does that leave? Christian Benteke might be an option if United want to stick within the Premier League, while the likes of Zlatan Ibrahimovic or Edinson Cavani (one of whom may well leave Paris Saint-Germain this summer) and Bayern Munich’s Thomas Muller—whose affection for Van Gaal is well-known—are among other possibilities.

Those latter three options would all command high wages, but Van Persie’s exit only confirms what was probably true anyway: United can easily afford them if they want to. Hell, now they can probably afford two of them.

Alexandre Lacazette and Harry Kane would be younger options with greater long-term prospects, but both deals would come with a significant amount of risk (Lacazette in adapting to a new league and country, Kane in the fear that last season was a outlier).

In which direction Van Gaal goes—established star or young, emerging talent—will further inform us about the reasons behind Van Persie’s exit; whether the deal was in part about changing the profile of his attacking options, or simply the clinical decision that Van Persie could no longer cut it at the highest level.

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The Dutchman leaves as a curious Premier League player, one who stayed for 11 seasons yet won only two major trophies (the 2005 FA Cup with Arsenal, and then the Premier League with United). He had two unequivocally fantastic individual campaigns—his last for Arsenal and his first for United—and sprinkled the rest of his career with some brilliant goals, yet injuries always seemed to strike at just the wrong time (remember when he got horse placenta treatment?), keeping him from reaching that elite class of the likes of Thierry Henry and Alan Shearer.

For all his talent, some will wonder if he should have achieved a little bit more, both in terms of medals and performances, although 144 goals in 280 league games is a pretty impressive return.

Not that he will have huge regrets. In many regards, both United and Van Persie got exactly what they wanted from his controversial 2012 transfer; the player finally winning the Premier League medal he so craved, as Sir Alex Ferguson prolonged his remarkable dynasty for one finally, salutary campaign.

The signing of Van Persie from Arsenal was arguably Ferguson’s last, decisive move to extend United’s dominance, perhaps aware (on some level) that a period of transition was waiting around the corner. That transition is here now, and Van Gaal is the man directing it, and so Van Persie’s exit now marks the continued break from that successful past.

Who arrives to replace Van Persie, in the process becoming United’s next main striking option alongside Rooney, will go a long way to defining just how soon the club are challenging for those Premier League titles once more.

In the meantime, United are simply grateful to Fenerbahce for making it all possible.