"I knew I was leaving Arsenal to win trophies, ...I end up with a team of champions" - Robin van Persie

Robin Van Persie knew he was leaving Arsenal to win trophies with Manchester United.

The Dutch striker scored 25 goals as United clinched the Premier League title in his first season at the club.

And RVP insists he was always sure he would be lifting silverware at Old Trafford from the day he decided to quit the Gunners.

He said: “I wouldn’t have moved if I’d had doubts.

“Instead, from day one I was almost certain we would win trophies — not in a couple of years but this year.

“I saw the players in training. I saw the way they behaved, the way they lived, their mentality, the way the staff worked, the way the manager and the staff acted.

“When all those elements combine you end up with a team of champions.

“It also helps when you have so many players who know how to win.”

United will receive the Premier League trophy following next Sunday’s final home game against Swansea.

And Van Persie added: “It is the feeling you dream of. Everything is about lifting the trophy.

“There were some great pictures taken after the Aston Villa game, but there was one thing missing from them all; the trophy.

“That’s the picture that will be framed in my house; me, lifting the Barclays Premier League trophy. I can’t wait for that moment.

“As a youth player I was used to winning trophies, right through from Under-12s to Under-18s.

“Won won the UEFA Cup at Feyenoord three months after I started and I remember thinking ‘Okay, this will happen every year’.

“But I’ve realised it is not that simple.

“I had to wait a long time to be a champion but it tastes lovely. I feel like I am floating on a cloud.”

Van Persie missed out to Gareth Bale in the voting for the PFA and FWA awards which he collected last season.

As consolation it seems certain Van Persie will end up with the Premier League Golden Boot for the second year running.

But he said: “In a way, it is not an honest award.

“Even if you end up with the most goals in a season, those goals are the team’s goals and many will have been made possible by other players.

“They should make a Golden Boot for the whole team. It would be nice to win it but the main thing for me was to win the league.

“Even if I’d scored half the number of goals and we’d won the league I would still have been happy.”