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Robin van Persie's phone call to Edwin van der Sar helped to seal his transfer to Manchester United from Arsenal

Robin van Persie spent almost an hour on the phone with Edwin van der Sar to discuss Manchester United and the merits of a move to Old Trafford before completing his £22 million transfer from Arsenal last month

On the ball: Robin van Persie is looking a good signing for Manchester United, says Edwin van der Sar Photo: AFP

By Mark Ogden

11:59PM BST 14 Sep 2012

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Van Persie has become an instant hero at United, scoring four goals in three appearances for Sir Alex Ferguson’s team. And former United goalkeeper Van der Sar, a team-mate of Van Persie in the Dutch national team, admits that last season’s double Footballer of the Year left no stone unturned in order to gauge which club he should leave Arsenal for.

Van der Sar said: “He called me up and said other clubs were in for him, but because I played for two of them, United and Juventus, he wanted to hear my thoughts about them.

“So we spoke for five minutes about Juventus and 55 minutes about United. He wanted to know how good United were, what he would find there, how the players are, what Ferguson is like, how they train, how the system works.

“He has shown his quality already. I read a statement from Ryan Giggs, saying that United have signed good players and good talent before, but that this one [Van Persie] has everything.

“He has the whole package already, but that doesn’t always mean it will work of course. Look at Fernando Torres at Chelsea. His first year was difficult, but I think the signs with Robin are good, though.”

Van Persie has yet to start a game with Wayne Rooney, with the England forward set to be sidelined for a further three to four weeks with a gashed thigh. But Van der Sar has no doubts over the ability of the two players to form a strike partnership.

Van der Sar said: “Can Van Persie play with Rooney? I think that’s why the manager bought him. They obviously won’t play every game, but I think Sir Alex is quite happy with the firepower he has up front.

“United lost the league by a couple of goals last season and I don’t think the manager wants to see that happen again.”