Throughout the history of soccer, there has always been talk of transfers that could have happened but never did. These are players who were rumored for years to be signing with a particular club, but the deal never came to fruition, and people always end up saying that they were made to wear that jersey, but for various reasons, it never happened. Robin Van Persie, legendary former Arsenal striker, has spoken about the possibility he had of playing for Barcelona, but the Catalan club opted for another striker and he was unable to make it to the Camp Nou.
It all happened in 2015 when Luis Enrique was Barcelona’s coach and his squad included the trio that all Barça fans remember: Messi, Neymar, and Luis Suárez. The Catalan club was looking for a striker who could shake things up, and that’s when Robin Van Persie came onto the scene. The Dutchman’s name was written in the Barça agenda alongside other names, but in the end, the Catalans opted for Paco Alcácer, who was shining at Borussia Dortmund. The gamble didn’t pay off, as the Valencian striker failed to establish himself at Can Barça.
Van Persie had options
The former footballer, born in Rotterdam, took part in a chat on Seg Stories, a famous podcast in the Netherlands, where he was joined by other well-known faces from the country, such as Erik Ten Hag and Kevin Strootman.
They talked about their different sporting careers, but one of the points that attracted the most attention was when Robin Van Persie confessed that he would have loved to have played for Barcelona and that he had the opportunity to do so, but that it did not materialize because the club opted for other options that were also on the table.
“I always wanted to play for Barcelona,” began Van Persie, who is currently the coach of Feyenoord. “In 2015, I had been playing for Fenerbahce for a few months and Kees told me that Barcelona was interested in me,” he explained about the conversation Robin had with his agent, who told him that the Catalan club was interested. “After a while, he called me and said it wouldn’t be possible. It didn’t happen. The truth is that I really wanted to sign for them,” added the Dutchman in the podcast.
Van Persie’s new life
No one can deny that Robin Van Persie was one of the most spectacular strikers of the last two decades. Everyone who saw him play for Arsenal remembers the images of the spectacular goals he scored at Highbury and the Emirates Stadium, but also for the Netherlands national team. Above all, there was that goal in which he dived and beat Iker Casillas in the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, where the Dutch took revenge on Spain after the 2010 final in South Africa. His career, beyond London, continued at Manchester United, Fenerbahce, and Feyenoord, where he hung up his boots.
It was in May 2019 when Robin Van Persie decided to hang up his boots at the team that had shaped him: Feyenoord. For several seasons, he gained experience at the Dutch club on the bench in assistant roles until 2024, when his big chance came to manage Heerenveen on his own. In February 2025, he terminated his contract with the club and three days later signed again with Feyenoord, but this time to lead the project for the remainder of last season and two more years.