Van Persie Makes the Difference

It was speculated last summer that the sale of Robin Van Persie to one of the Manchester clubs would make the difference in the title race this year.

Manchester City boss Roberto Mancini has regularly bemoaned his club’s failure to sign Van Persie as the reason they have not managed to defend their title this season.

Last night Van Persie scored a hat trick as Manchester United won 3-0 in the game that sealed their 20^th English title win, including a wonderful second goal which he took on the full volley from a Wayne Rooney pass which dropped just over his shoulder. 

The goals were also significant as they moved Van Persie ahead of Luis Suarez in the scoring charts, and also put Van Persie firmly back in the limelight on the week the Player of the Year nominations were announced.

Van Persie was last season’s PFA Players’ Player of the Year, though this time he will face stronger opposition from the likes of Gareth Bale, who has made Tottenham look like a one man team at times, and Juan Mata, who has had a hand in more goals than any other players in Europe this year, bar Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.

Mata’s Chelsea team mate Eden Hazard is also in the running, as is Manchester United’s midfield heart Michael Carrick.  Luis Suarez would be one of the hot favourites for the award, but his impressive performances have been overshadowed by other recent controversies which make him an outside bet.

Van Persie is not the only man to have moved between top clubs to have made a difference in the title race in recent seasons.  The transfer of Andrea Pirlo from Milan to Juventus has also been hugely significant in the destination of the Serie A title in the last few seasons.

Having only appeared 17 times in his last season for Milan, he was allowed to leave for rivals Juventus as a free agent.   It is no coincidence Juventus have taken control of Serie A since, unbeaten last year and with a healthy lead at the top this year.

Reports in Germany appear to indicate that the star player of the Borussia Dortmund team, Mario Gotze is all set to join runaway leaders Bayern Munich this summer.

Bayern have completely dominated the Bundesliga this year, and look set to complete an unprecedented treble.  The purchase of their closest challengers star player might make next seasons title race a formality.

Perhaps they have looked at the example of Van Persie, who has brought 24 league goals with him to last season’s league runners up, and helped them move far ahead of last season’s champions Manchester City. 

His goals which could have come for Manchester City instead have almost certainly made the difference for Manchester United this season, and makes him the most significant player of the season, and now a favourite for the Player of the Year Award.

With Pep Guardiola at the helm, and players like Mario Gotze joining the ranks, Bayern Munich may well be unstoppable next season, if they are not already.  Their match against Barcelona tonight will be a good judge of just how good they are just now.