Van Persie dreamed of signing for Barça and never did: What prevented it?

When talking about great goalscorers in the history of football, it is inevitable to bring up the name of Robin van Persie. A great Dutch bomber, with a brilliant professional career that took him to teams such as Arsenal, Manchester United, Feyenoord and Fenerbahçe, adding a total of 274 goals and 94 assists in 595 matches.

• 📌 ROBIN VAN PERSIE'S NUMBERS WITH THE DUTCH NATIONAL TEAM: 50 goals in a total of 102 matches played.

A remarkable record, but with a thorn in his side: Barcelona

However, despite having played for stellar teams and with a record that includes several professional awards (7), the historic goalscorer from the Netherlands seems to have an unfinished business in his career: playing for FC Barcelona. At least that's what the current Feyenoord coach acknowledged in an interview on the SEG Stories podcast, in which he confessed that playing for the Culé team was an unfulfilled dream:

"I always had the desire to play for Barça at some point. I really hoped that, somehow, it could come true. It was a real dream for me."

Van Persie and FC Barcelona's interest in 2015

In turn, Van Persie recalled how close he was to becoming a Barcelona player in the 2015/16 winter market, being a request from the then Blaugrana coach, Luis Enrique, who by the way had a formidable offensive front: the mythical 'MSN' formed by Leo Messi, Luis Suárez and Neymar Jr.

"After half a year at Fenerbahçe, there was talk of it at the time, and I was very hopeful. It would have been incredible. My agent told me that there were conversations, that there was an option, but then he called me and said: 'It's not going to happen'," said the former player.

Why Van Persie's signing for the Azulgrana club was frustrated

Later, his agent at the time, Kees Vos, elaborated on the reason why the agreement with Barça in 2015 did not materialize, explaining at first that it was "a matter of timings":

"If he had waited a little longer at United instead of going to Fenerbahçe, it would have been a serious option, because he would have arrived from United. When you come from Fenerbahçe, you arrive at Barcelona in a different way because some doubts arise about your physical condition," explained the representative.

• 📌 HOW DID VAN PERSIE DO IN THE DUELS HE PLAYED AGAINST BARCELONA?: one goal in three matches played with Arsenal.

Thus, the incorporation ended up falling not only for what was expressed above, but also for the alleged economic demands of Fenerbahçe to let him leave, in addition to the contractual emoluments that corresponded to the striker. Other issues that further complicated the departure of the striker from Turkey, a football that he wanted to leave because he did not have the desired prominence.

He wanted to take a step forward in his career, and what better way to do it than at a Barcelona that was looking for a striker willing to fit into the Culé B unit as a substitute for a Luis Suárez who had been at the club for a short time... and was already flying.

Paco Alcácer's signing definitively closed the door

Shortly after, in the 2016/17 season, the Dutchman's options were completely buried. In that summer market, the Catalan team reinforced its attack with a young Paco Alcácer, from Valencia CF, who arrived to alleviate that need for a '9' revulsive that was required to rotate Luis Suárez. Thus, the Van Persie folder at FC Barcelona was definitively closed.